What many now deem to revolutionary and branded as ‘sustainable thinking’, design pioneer Dieter Rams called it simple ‘common sense’ decades ago
WORDS BY EMILY MARTIN
HE IS RECOGNISED as one of the most influential industrial designers of the 20th century and this August will see Dieter Rams celebrate his 91st birthday. A protégé of the Ulm School of Design (successor to the Bauhaus), he closely associated himself with Braun and Vitsœ throughout his working life, where he was head of design at Braun from 1961 to 1995 and continues to work at Vitsœ today. His influence can be seen in product design today; Rams’s design ethos has somewhat impressed Apple designer Jonathan Ive (you can’t help but note a striking visual resemblance between the original Apple iPod and the Braun T3 transistor radio) and Rams famously set out the ‘good design’