Dieter Rams

Dieter Rams (born 20 May 1932) is a German industrial designer who is most 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" (Weniger, aber besser) design has influenced the practice of design, as well as 20th century aesthetics and culture.

He is quoted as stating that "Indifference towards people and the reality in which they live is actually the one and only cardinal sin in design."

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 (architect).

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

In 1955, he was recruited by Braun as an architect and an interior designer, and eventually became a protégé of Fritz Eichler (designer) and the Ulm School of Design professors Hans Gugelot and Otl Aicher, all of whom worked with Braun in various capacities.

Rams joined Braun in 1955 at the age of 23, and in 1961, he became head of design at the company, a position he retained until his retirement at the age of 65 in 1997.

Rams and his staff designed many memorable products for Braun including the famous SK 4 radiogram and the high-quality 'D'-series (D 45, D 46) of 35mm film slide projectors.

The SK 4, known as the "Snow White's coffin," is considered revolutionary because it transitioned household appliance design away from looking like traditional furniture.

In 1959, Rams began a collaboration with Vitsœ, at the time known as Vitsœ-Zapf, which led to the development of the 606 Universal Shelving System, which is still sold today, with only minor changes from the original.

He also designed furniture for Vitsœ in the 1960s, including the 620 chair collection.

In 1968, Rams designed the cylindric T 2 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.

Rams introduced the idea of sustainable development, and of obsolescence being a crime in design, in the 1970s.

Accordingly, he asked himself the question: "Is my design a good design?"

The answer he formed became the basis for his celebrated "Ten Principles of Good design".

According to Rams, "good design":

Rams has been involved in design for seven decades and has received many honorary appellations throughout his career.

Less and More is an exhibition of Rams's landmark designs for Braun and Vitsœ.

His approach to design and his aesthetics influenced Apple designer Jonathan Ive and many Apple products pay tribute to Rams's work for Braun, including Apple's iOS 6 calculator, which references the 1977 ET66 calculator, and prior to a redesign, the appearance of the playing screen in Apple's Podcast app mimicked the appearance of the Braun TG 60 reel-to-reel tape recorder.

The iOS 7 world clock app closely mirrors Braun's clock and watch design, while the original iPod closely resembles the Braun T3 transistor radio.

He worked with both Braun and Vitsœ until his retirement in 1997, and continues to work with Vitsœ.

It first traveled to Japan in 2008 and 2009, appearing at the Suntory Museum in Osaka and the Fuchu Art Museum in Tokyo.

In Gary Hustwit's 2009 documentary film Objectified, Rams states that Apple is one of the few companies designing products according to his principles.

Between November 2009 and March 2010 it appeared at the Design Museum in London.

In a 2010 interview with Die Zeit, Rams mentions that Ive personally sent him an iPhone "Along with a nice letter. He thanked me for the inspiration that my work was to him".

The designer Jasper Morrison has spoken of his grandfather's Rams designed Braun "Snow White's Coffin" being an "important influence on [his] choice in becoming a designer."

It appeared at the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt from July to September 2010.

The exhibit then appeared at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art from August 2011 to February 2012.

On June 22, 2016, filmmaker Gary Hustwit announced his documentary Rams and launched a Kickstarter campaign for the project.

The full-length documentary features in-depth conversations with Rams about his design philosophy, the process behind some of his most iconic designs, his inspiration and his regrets.

Some of the funds raised in the Kickstarter campaign also helped to preserve Rams's design archive in cooperation with the Dieter and Ingeborg Rams Foundation.

In 2016, the Vitra Design Museum staged an exhibition titled "Dieter Rams. Modular World" focusing on Rams "obsession with grids and shelving".

In 2022, the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt updated and expanded its permanent display titled "Dieter Rams. A Style Room" to mark the designer's 90th birthday.

The exhibit also includes photographs by his wife, Ingeborg Rams.

In 2021 an exhibition of approximately 30 works, 100 photographs, and information panels opened at the Museum Angewandte Kunst.

The exhibit was subsequently on view at the Goethe Institute in New York in 2022, and the ADI Design Museum in Milan in 2023.