The Designs that Forged an Icon: 100 Years of Braun

Sometimes a brand comes along with an outlook so refreshingly new that it revolutionizes an art. While for some that means bringing extra qualities to the table, for Braun, it meant taking things away. Radical simplicity. Under the motto, “Less but better,” Braun set about altering the face of modern product design with a steadfast set of values that revolved around efficiency.

Herbert Bayer (1900 – 1985) – Universal Typeface – Bauhaus Master

The universal typeface, 1925, was a geometric alphabet based on bar and circle and was designed by Herbert Bayer (1900) to function efficiently in a technological society. Bayer rejected the “archaic and complicated gothic alphabet” which lingered in the most scientifically advanced society of its time, Germany of the first world war period and the postwar era. Read More →
Million Mark Note – Design Classic

The Bauhaus was the most well-known design school of the 20th century. Herbert Bayer created notes in denominations of one million, two million, and two billion. The designs exemplify the ideology of hardline Modern Movement graphics.Read More →
Friedrich Adler (1878 – 1942) German sculptor and designer

First designer to work with bakelite Friedrich Adler (1878 – 1942) was a German designer, educator, and artist. He was well-known for his work in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco genres of metals design. He was also the first to employ bakelite in his designs. He created his designs with a wide range of things and materials.Read More →
Margaret Leischner (1908 – 1970) German textile designer

She began teaching weaving at the Bauhaus in 1931. She worked at the Dresdener Deutsche Werkstatten in 1931, designing woven textiles, and was the head of the weaving department at the Berlin Modeschule from 1932 to 1936. She worked as the head designer for Gateshead, a British fabric manufacturer.Read More →
AEG (Allgemeine Elektrizitäts Gesellschaft) (established 1883)

Engineer Emil Rathenau founded AEG as the Deutsche Edison Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektrizitäts (DEG) two years after seeing Edison’s lighting at the Paris Exposition Internationale de l’Electricité in 1881.Read More →
Peter Behrens (1868 – 1940) – German architect and designer

Peter Brehens (1868 – 1940) was a German graphic artist, architect and designer. He studied at the Karlsruhe and in Düsseldorf and Munich.Read More →
Anchor Blocks – 19th Century construction toy

Anchor Blocks were a German system of building blocks that were popular as a children’s construction toy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, notably in Europe. Dr F. Ad. Richter in Rudolstadt, Germany, began developing and manufacturing the system in 1879. The concept was based on the FROEBEL block system, which significantly impacted Frank Lloyd WRIGHT’s design philosophy.Read More →
Frei Otto (1925 – 2015) German Architect designs that soared

The late German architect Frei Otto’s work can be seen all over the world in pavilions and sports stadiums. His impact on the Olympics is huge, from the design of Rio’s Maracana stadium to the tent-like roofs he made for Munich in 1972. He influenced a generation of British architects, including Norman Foster, Michael Hopkins and Nicholas Grimshaw. Otto’s influence can be seen in the lightweight fabric roof of Lord’s cricket ground (1987) and the bubble-like domes of the Eden Project (2000).Read More →
Hermann Junger (b.1928) Bauhaus influenced jewellery

Hermann Junger was one of the best goldsmiths in Germany. His creative jewellery had a big impact not only in Germany, but also all over Europe and the U.S. He studied at the Staatliche Zeichenakademie, Hanau.Read More →
Christian Dell (1893 – 1974) German metalworker designer

Christian Dell (1893–1974) was a German silversmith. Dell was born in Hesse’s Offenbach am Main. In the 1920s, Dell ran the metal workshop at the Bauhaus University, and his designs are, in line with the Bauhaus style, characterised by modern shapes and functionality. After his successful stint as an industrial designer, Dell returned in the late 1940s to his original profession as a silversmith.Read More →
Erna Zarges-Dürr (1907-2002) – German silversmith

Erna Zarges-Dürr (1907-2002) was a German silversmith. She was professionally active Pforzheim, Leipzig, Berlin. and Stuttgart. Between 1924-27, she trained at Bruckmann und Söhne, Heilbronn, as the first women in the silversmiths’ department. From 1927, she studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Pforzheim, under Theodor Wende and others. Read More →
Hermann Zapf (1918 – 2015) German Typographer and Calligrapher

Hermann Zapf (1918 – 2015) was born and educated in Nuremberg. Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse, a calligrapher and typeface designer, was his wife. Palatino, Optima, and Zapfino are some of the typefaces he developed.Read More →
Trude Petri-Rabin (1906 – 1989) German Ceramicist

From 1927 she studied porcelain at Verinigdten Staatsshulen für freie und angewandte Kunst (United State Schools for Free and Applied Arts), Berlin, and Staatliche Porzellan-Manufakture, Berlin (Royal Porcelain Factory, Berlin).Read More →
Franz Rickert (1904-1991) German Silversmith

He worked as a silversmith from 1926 and became one of the most important silversmiths in Munich and an outstanding enameler. 1935-72, he taught at the Staatsschule (later Akademie) fur angewandte Kunst in Munich. In the 1950s and 1960s, he designed numerous religious objects.Read More →
Ferdinand Kramer (1898 – 1985) German Architect and Designer

Kramer’s father was the owner of the most well-known of Frankfurt hat shops. In 1916, immediately after school, Kramer was drawn into military service and remained a soldier through the end of the First World War. The following year he trained at the Bauhaus for a few months before quitting, disillusioned with the technical level of the training, then began a three-year architectural study in Munich with Theodor Fischer.Read More →
Arzberg Porcelain – prestigious German design

Arzberg is regarded as one of the most prestigious porcelain design houses in the world. The definition of good design. Arzberg combines aesthetics, functionality, and durability.Read More →
Hermann Gretsch (1895 – 1950) designer for Arzberg

Hermann Gretsch was a German architect, engineer and product designer. In the 1930s, Gretsch worked for the Porzellanfabrik Arzberg.Read More →
Konstantin Grcic Unveils – CUP Chair For Plank | 🇩🇪 German Design

For travellers, the benefits of plastic shell suitcases have come to be appreciated. They are extremely light and flexible, yet powerful and good looking. Suitcases made of thin vacuum-formed plastic sheets have completely transformed the product category. As a designer of the furniture, Konstantin Grcic was surprised by this ingenuity and the suitability of the modern chair covers for production and performance. Read More →
Herbert Hirche (1910 – 2002) German Industrial Designer

Hirche’s work was also shown at national and international fairs and exhibitions. These include the Milan Triennale in 1957 and Expo 58, the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. IRead More →
Oscar Barnack (1879 – 1936) and the first 35mm camera

The Leica 1, the first functional 35 mm camera, was introduced in Germany in 1925, making photography much more accessible to the general public.Read More →