Dieter Rams at work in his studio in Kronberg near Frankfurt, Germany

'Everything now is too chaotic' says Dieter Rams

Legendary German designer calls for a return to simplicity

We’re big fans of Dieter Rams here at Phaidon HQ and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is currently hosting the exhibition Less and More (until February 20, 2012) showcasing more than 200 models and objects created by the influential industrial designer for the German household appliance company Braun.

In this video Jacob Becker, one of the show's curators, explains the philosophy behind Rams's designs and the minimalist ethos which has made his products so aesthetically and ergonomically distinctive.

The video also offers the chance to hear Rams’s thoughts on what he believes might be the key design principles for the future.

Unsurprisingly, Apple comes in top as the company Rams believes is currently taking product design most seriously. As you'll be able to tell, the video was shot just before Steve Jobs passed away.

Dieter Rams: As Little Design as PossibleSophie Lovell

Price AUD$135.00 Price CAD$135.00 Price £69.95 Price T105.00 Price USD$105.00

Dieter Rams is one of the most influential product designers of the twentieth century. Even if you don't immediately recognize his name, you have almost certainly used one of the radios, clocks, lighters, juicers, shelves or hundreds of other products he designed. He is famous not only for this vast array of well-formed products, but for his remarkably prescient ideas about the correct function of design in the messy, out-of-control world we inhabit today. These ideas are summed up in his 'ten principles' of good design: good design is innovative, useful, and aesthetic. Good design should be make a product easily understood. Good design is unobtrusive, honest, durable, thorough, and concerned with the environment. Most of all, good design is as little design as possible.

In that spirit, this monograph is as little book as possible. It is a clear, comprehensive and beautiful presentation of Dieter Rams' life and his work. It is a must-have book for anyone interested in Rams' work, his legacy, and his ideas about how to live.

Specifications:

Format: Hardback
Size: 270 × 205 mm (10 5/8 × 8 1/8 in)
Pages: 400 pp
Illustrations: 320 illustrations
ISBN: 9780714849188

Sophie Lovell was born in London. After graduating from the University of Sussex and Chelsea College of Art & Design, she moved to Berlin in 1994. She is a writer, curator and creative consultant as well as a long-term contributing editor and currently the Germany editor of the international lifestyle magazine Wallpaper*. She has written and edited several books on design and architecture including Limited Edition: Prototypes, One-Offs and Design Art Furniture and Furnish – Furniture and Interior Design for the 21st Century.

"Shines by painting a refreshingly realistic picture of the design process... The easiest way to describe Mr. Rams’s impact on design is to say that he made Braun the “Apple” — in other words the It-brand — of its time."—Alice Rawsthorn, International Herald Tribune

"While many of the books about Dieter Rams are predominantly dry catalogues, Lovell's book examines the relevance of his work from a contemporary design standpoint by featuring interviews with some of today's top industrial designers..."—Apphia Michael, Wallpaper.com

"As Little Design as Possible is well-structured, thorough and provides background context to the many facets of Rams’s career, and also considers the continuation of his Ten Principles of Good Design."—Thomas Phongsathorn, V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum magazine)

"The design bible from the greatest industrial designer of the 20th century." —Tomas Maier, Esquire