Dieter Rams

Dieter Rams is a German industrial designer and retired academic, closely associated with the consumer products company Braun, the furniture company Vitsœ, and the functionalist school of industrial design. His unobtrusive approach and belief in "Less, but better" design generated a timeless quality in his products and have influenced the design of many products, which also secured Rams worldwide recognition and appreciation.

Dieter Rams began his studies in architecture and interior decoration at Wiesbaden School of Art in 1947, now part of the RheinMain University of Applied Sciences. A year later, in 1948, he took a break from studying to gain practical experience and finish his carpentry apprenticeship. He returned to the Wiesbaden School of Art in 1948 and graduated in architecture with honours in 1953, after which he began working for Frankfurt-based architect Otto Apel.

In 1955, he was recruited to Braun as an architect and an interior designer. In 1961, he became the chief design officer at Braun, a position he retained until 1995.

Dieter Rams was strongly influenced by the presence of his grandfather, a carpenter. Rams once explained his design approach in the phrase "Weniger, aber besser" which translates as "Less, but better". Rams and his staff designed many memorable products for Braun including the famous SK4 record player and the high-quality 'D'-series (D45, D46) of 35mm film slide projectors. The SK4, known as the "Snow White coffin," is considered revolutionary because it transitioned household appliance design away from looking like traditional furniture. He is also known for designing a furniture collection for Vitsœ, at the time known as Vitsœ-Zapf, in the 1960s, including the 606 universal shelving system and 620 chair programme.

By producing electronic gadgets that were remarkable in their austere aesthetic and user friendliness, Rams made Braun a household name in the 1950s.

In 1968, Rams designed the cylindric T2 cigarette lighter for Braun. A member of the company's board had asked him for a design; Rams replied "only if we design our own technology to go inside them." Successive versions of the product went on to use then-current motorcycle-like magnetic ignition, followed by piezoelectric, and finally solar-powered mechanisms.

In addition to being a successor to the Bauhaus, Rams eventually became a protégé of the Ulm School of Design in Ulm, Germany.

His designs inspired Apple designer Jonathan Ive, including Apple's iOS 6 calculator, a clear reference to the 1977 Braun ET66 calculator.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2023