VitrA
Corporate Profile
Enduring Values
9
Enduring Values
Heir to Anatolia’s millennia-old ceramic art tradition, VitrA is also steeped in the
culture that gave birth to the delightfully purifying Turkish hamam experience.
The precursor to the brand was Eczacıbaşı’s first production facility, a small
workshop launched in 1942 in a daring drive to supply the country with a variety
of earthenware products when imports were curtailed by wartime. The post-
war economic revival, accompanied by a construction boom, led Eczacıbaşı to
pioneer the domestic production of ceramic sanitaryware. Contemporary in
style and more hygienic than traditional marble counterparts, ceramic proved
enormously popular with consumers. In 1958 Eczacıbaşı opened its first modern
ceramic sanitaryware plant in response to surging demand.
By 1968, when VitrA was adopted as the brand name for Eczacıbaşı sanitaryware,
the brand already had years of history behind it as the uncontested leader of
the domestic market. A tap production plant was opened in 1979, heralding the
strategic decision to diversify into complementary bathroom products.
A high-achieving competitor in foreign markets since 1983, today VitrA is the
leading global provider of a full range of bathroom components. Seventy per
cent of production is sold abroad through a powerful distribution network.
This extraordinary accomplishment is anchored in the founder’s unshakable
vision. Dr Nejat Eczacıbaşı always maintained that lasting success demanded
hard work, risk taking and innovation: ‘Success comes those who eschew the
easy path, and boldly embrace innovation and advances.’
VitrA’s continued pursuit of ever greater advances delivers bathrooms with a
universal appeal and a promise of serenity.
‘The true measure of private
enterprise is its degree of success
in raising social welfare.’
Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı
VitrA’s logo chronology (from left to right)
1. 1966 – 1979 2. 1979 – 1990 3. 1990 – 2002 4. 2002 - 2006 5. VitrA logo recreated in 2006
the Founder of the Eczacıbaşı Group
