Happy Birthday Dieter Rams

Dieter Rams, recognised as one of the most influential industrial designers of the 20th century, has blown up the balloons, baked a big cake in the shape of an eight and zero to celebrate his 80th birthday today.

Dieter Rams at Vitsœ by Anne Brassier

Dieter Rams is known as somewhat of a God amongst the design cognoscenti but lesser known outside of that world. Except of course by the work that he produced for Braun. In 1955 Dieter Rams began working for a little known electrical company called Braun (pronounced ‘brown’) and quickly became an influential force within the company. From 1961 Prof Rams was head of design until his retirement in 1995.

SK4 record player by Dieter Rams for Braun. The first record player to have a plastic lid.

To mark the occasion of his 80th birthday today, Rams invited Vitsœ to release the transcript of his speech, ‘Design by Vitsœ’, which he gave in December 1976 in New York City; it provides an insight into a design ethos that was remarkably ahead of its time.

And if you still want to learn more about this iconic designer, watch this nice video with Dieter Rams in conversation with London’s Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic. I’m not bragging, but I was stood behind the camera for the entire time.