Less and More, Dieter Rams at the Design Museum

Installation view of Less and More at the Design Museum
Installation view of Less and More at the Design Museum
(Image credit: press)

It’s not an overstatement to say Dieter Rams is perhaps the most influential living industrial designer of modern times. His 500-strong output of electronic designs for Braun, between 1955 and 1995 changed the language of appliance design as we know it today and his ‘Ten Principles’ of good design have become a mantra – a checklist and a rule book – for industrial designers the world over. With the same reductive efficiency he applied to his own designs, in ten simple commandments, Rams succinctly defined what design for a post-war modern world should be.

Simplifying and humanising Bauhaus principles, marrying them with the electronic and engineering advances born from the Second World War, Rams’ appliances are lean and clean. Switches are small and ordered, different components are arranged geometrically, colour-coded in a muted palette and finished with a combination of wood veneer and the pioneering plastics he developed. You didn’t have to be part of a financial or cultural elite to own or appreciate a Rams-designed appliance.

His design legacy continues today apace, most stringently in the work of the super-normalists Naoto Fukasawa, Jasper Morrison and Industrial Facility and most widespread in the work of Jonathan Ive whose i-products are arguably the closest anyone has come to achieving ten ticks against Rams’ ten principles.

Read our Q&A with the Bibliothèque who did the graphic identity for the exhibition

A retrospective of Rams’ seminal designs are on show at the Design Museum together with archive footage, models, sketches and film interviews with Ive, Morrison, Hecht and Fukasawa. The exhibition isn't just a chronological survey of his work for Braun and furniture for Vitsoe, it provides comprehensive insight into the man behind the designs, how his work evolved and how widespread his influence, both details and overall, has been.

Given his status is the design world it was only fitting that Rams was one of our inaugural guest editors of issue W*103 – for which Matthew Donaldson, as the centrepiece of Rams’ edited section, brought to life the ‘Ten Principles’ in a photographic essay. In addition to Rams’ retrospective we've resurrected Donaldson’s shoot here, which captures perfectly the quiet magnanimity of Rams’ designs, from principle to product in ten photographs.

An inforgraphic printed on the wall at the museum, Shoreditch-based Bibliotheque designed the graphics for the exhibition

Shoreditch-based Bibliotheque designed the graphics for the exhibition

(Image credit: press)

A wall display at the design museum

'Question everything generally thought to be obvious' another of Rams' definitive statements

(Image credit: press)

L2 and L01 Speakers, 1958, by Dieter Rams for Braun.

"Good design is as little design as possible". L2 and L01 Speakers, 1958, by Dieter Rams for Braun. 

(Image credit: Matthew Donaldson)

ET66 Calculator, 1976; World Traveller ET88 Calculator, 1987

"Good design is consistent to the last detail". ET66 Calculator, 1976; World Traveller ET88 Calculator, 1987, Both by Dieter Rams and Dietrich Lubs for Braun. 

(Image credit: Matthew Donaldson, from W*103.)

Conference Table Programme 850, 1985

"Good design is concerned with the environment". Conference Table Programme 850, 1985, by Dieter Rams for Vitsœ.

(Image credit: Matthew Donaldson, from W*103.)

620 Lounge Chair Programme, 1962; 606 Universal Shelving System, 1960, Both by Dieter Rams for Vitsœ

"Good design is durable". 620 Lounge Chair Programme, 1962; 606 Universal Shelving System, 1960, Both by Dieter Rams for Vitsœ.

(Image credit: Matthew Donaldson, from W*103.)

Wall Mounted Audio 2/3 (Compents: Control TS45, Reel to Reel Tape Recorder TG60, Slim Speakers L450, Record Player PCS5) 1962/1963 by Dieter Rams for Braun

"Good design is honest". Wall Mounted Audio 2/3 (Compents: Control TS45, Reel to Reel Tape Recorder TG60, Slim Speakers L450, Record Player PCS5) 1962/1963 by Dieter Rams for Braun. 

(Image credit: Matthew Donaldson, from W*103.)

World Receiver by Dieter Rams for Braun

"Good design helps a product to be understood". World Receiver by Dieter Rams for Braun.

(Image credit: Matthew Donaldson, from W*103.)

Cylindric T2 Cigarette Lighter, 1968 by Dieter Rams for Braun

"Good design is unobtrusive". Cylindric T2 Cigarette Lighter, 1968 by Dieter Rams for Braun.

(Image credit: Matthew Donaldson, from W*103.)

"Good design is aesthetic". Tischsuper RT20, 1961, by Dieter Rams for Braun.

"Good design is aesthetic". Tischsuper RT20, 1961, by Dieter Rams for Braun. Photography: Matthew Donaldson, from W*103.

(Image credit: Matthew Donaldson, from W*103.)

MPZ 21 Multipress Citrus Juicer, 1972, by Dieter Rams and Jurgen Greubel for Braun

"Good design makes a product useful". MPZ 21 Multipress Citrus Juicer, 1972, by Dieter Rams and Jurgen Greubel for Braun.

(Image credit: Matthew Donaldson, from W*103.)

TP1 Radio/Phone Combination, 1959, by Dieter Rams for Braun.

"Good design is innovative". TP1 Radio/Phone Combination, 1959, by Dieter Rams for Braun.

(Image credit: Matthew Donaldson, from W*103.)

620 Chair Programme, Vitsoe

620 Chair Programme, Vitsoe

(Image credit: Steve Rees)

TP1 Portable Phono Combination by Dieter Rams 1959

TP1 Portable Phono Combination by Dieter Rams 1959

(Image credit: press)

T1000 World Receiver, Braun 1963, by Dieter Rams

T1000 World Receiver, Braun 1963, by Dieter Rams

(Image credit: press)

SuperHet VHF and medium wave radio, Braun, 1961 designed by Dieter Rams and Hans Gugelot

SuperHet VHF and medium wave radio, Braun, 1961 

(Image credit: Dieter Rams and Hans Gugelot)

SM 3 Shaver Gerd Müller 1960 Braun GmbH Braun GmbH.

SM 3 Shaver Gerd Müller 1960 Braun GmbH Braun GmbH.

(Image credit: press)

SK 4 radio-phone 1956 Braun

SK 4 radio-phone 1956 Braun.

(Image credit: Dieter Rams)

KF 20 Coffee Machine

KF 20 Coffee Machine by Dieter Rams, 1972, for Braun.

(Image credit: press)

Dieter Rams with radio, tape recorder and speaker model TS 45.

Dieter Rams with radio, tape recorder and speaker model TS 45.

(Image credit: press)

Audio 300 Radio-phono combination by Dieter Rams, 1969.

Audio 300 Radio-phono combination by Dieter Rams, 1969.

(Image credit: press)

606 Universal Shelving system for Vitsœ by Dieter Rams, 1960.

606 Universal Shelving system for Vitsœ by Dieter Rams, 1960.

(Image credit: press)

300 special DL 3 Shaver Artur Braun for Braun

300 special DL 3 Shaver Artur Braun for Braun by Dieter Rams, 1955.

(Image credit: press)

Rosa Bertoli was born in Udine, Italy, and now lives in London. Since 2014, she has been the Design Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees design content for the print and online editions, as well as special editorial projects. Through her role at Wallpaper*, she has written extensively about all areas of design. Rosa has been speaker and moderator for various design talks and conferences including London Craft Week, Maison & Objet, The Italian Cultural Institute (London), Clippings, Zaha Hadid Design, Kartell and Frieze Art Fair. Rosa has been on judging panels for the Chart Architecture Award, the Dutch Design Awards and the DesignGuild Marks. She has written for numerous English and Italian language publications, and worked as a content and communication consultant for fashion and design brands.