The Dieter Rams ‘Less And More’ exhibition at the Design Museum in London
(18 November 2009 – 09 March 2010).

When visiting that exhibition last Sunday I was stunned by the sustainability avant-gardism of Dieter Rams.
Rams is a German designer who served as head of design for Braun from 1961 till his retirement in 1995 and is today considered as “one of the most influential industrial designers of the late 20th century by defining an elegant, legible, yet rigorous visual language for its products.”
More than twenty years ago, the icon designer has established “10 Principles of Good Design”. His innovative vision of design makes him one of the precursors of industrial sustainable design. Indeed Rams’ products integrated sustainability and durability years before these issues became inevitable and essential for industrial designers (?)

First of all, products designed by Rams were made to last! Have a look into your grandmother’s kitchen and you are likely to find an old Braun mixer or coffee maker, coming right from the seventies and working like the day she bought them!

Braun KF400 Aromaster 10-Cup Coffeemaker

Far from the recycling era but on the threshold of mass consumerism and materialism Rams products are designed to satisfy consumers’ needs over the longest period of time possible.

Why would you recycle when you can simply repair? Made of durable materials such as steel and resin (but also plastic), Rams’ products are also demountable. Which means that, if an element of your toaster or alarm clock eventually broke up, you could take the item to the store and get just the broken part replaced instead of having to buy a new product.

But Rams knew that interchangeable and resistant components were not the only key to lasting products.
When creating a household appliance, he always kept in mind that it should fit into its future environment. He has an ecological approach to design. Products are to be integrated in existing systems (houses) they must not clash or interfere with the pre existent harmony and balance. This explains the sobriety and neutrality of Braun products commercialised under the Rams period. They were designed so that they could basically fit in any interior, anytime.

In Rams vision products don’t convey another utility that the one represented by its primary function (shave, toast, heat etc). They don’t make you look cool, they don’t make you look fashionable. This exhibition tells us that Rams “hates fashion” and by consequence the design of American cars of the sixties and seventies, because it aimed at making the cars look old fashion and undesirable within two years of existence. Rams intended to put his creations out of time and to inscribe them into a strict functional frame.

Apple designer, Jonathan Ive’s creations are openly influenced by Rams’ work.

Braun LE1 speaker and Apple iMac

A quick look at his work is enough to identify the common points with Rams’, the main ones being minimalism, sobriety and intuitive functionality.

Basically Apple’s products look the same and work the same as Rams’ products. But unlike Rams’ they are conceived upon the concept of “throwability”. In 20-30 years, your grandchildren could possibly find (one of) your old IPods but it is very unlikely that they will be still working! Simply because they are not designed to last that long.  It seems that Apple has not learnt what Rams has to teach to modern designers. Apple’s business model is not based on lasting products in the way Braun’s was.

“90% of all products are wasted within six months of purchase*” . Technology breakthroughs cannot be considered as an excuse.  Indeed technology surrounding house appliances (such as coffee machines, hair dryers and toasters) has not seen major breakthroughs during the past 30 years.  Industrials have modelled consumption patterns in the most unsustainable way we can imagine. Rams’ design reminds us that recyclability is nowadays too often used by our “throwaway society”, as the worst good excuse for unsustainably designed, disposable products with a short life expectancy. Producing products is a process using resources and energy as is recycling. I definitely think that recycling is part of the solutions leading to sustainable consumption; it is definitely not THE solution!

The 10 principles of Good Design
Copyright Dieter Rams

1- “Good design is innovative”

2- “Good design makes a product useful”

3- “Good design is aesthetic”

4- “Good design helps us to understand a product”

5- “Good design is unobtrusive”

6- “Good design is honest”

7- “Good design is durable”

8- “Good design is consequent to the last detail”

9- “Good design is concerned with the environment”

10- “Good design is as little design as possible”

*Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use - The New Report to the Club of Rome, 1998

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