If you were worried that 2011’s Dieter Rams: As Little Design As Possible was the last book you’d see on the iconic designer, fear not. Publisher Phaidon has announced they’re rolling out Dieter Rams: The Complete Works, a complete catalog of not just his well-known MoMA-worthy classics, but “a complete catalogue raisonné of every product he has designed in his lifetime.”
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With an introduction by German professor of design theory and history Klaus Klemp, Dieter Rams: The Complete Works includes over 300 images of his most noteworthy electronics, housewares, and furniture designs including the SK sound system series, alarm clocks, calculators, lighters, and camera flashes for Braun, his razors for Gilette, and The 606 Universal Shelving System for Vitsoe.
We’ve leafed through a press preview of the book, and it’s stunning. Sadly we don’t have permission to release some of the more noteworthy images we saw, but we can tell you that the book–which features over 300 images–documents plenty of Rams’ designs that you’ve likely never seen before, from obscure consumer electronics products and appliances to furniture. It’s organized chronologically, starting with Rams’ earliest surviving work–a 1947 sketch for a chair he did as a design student–and encompassing every decade of his work right up to 2020.
Dieter Rams: The Complete Works, Klaus Kemp, Phaidon; 620 (RZ 62), 1962, Chair programme, high-back model with footstool, Dieter Rams, Vitsoe+Zapf / sdr+ / Vitsoe, high-back model with footstool (left), low-back model (right), pages 94-95
HZ 1, 1965, Room thermostat, Dieter Rams, Braun. 10.5 × 6 × 3 cm (4 × 2½ × 1 in) 0.2 kg (½ lb), plastic, acrylic, DM 34. Picture credit: photography Andreas Kugel / Gu¨nter Staeffler, Kirchbrak (page 122)
KMM 2, 1969, Coffee grinder, Dieter Rams, Braun. 18.9 × 11.5 × 8.2–12 cm in diameter (7 ½ × 4½ × 3¼–4¾ in) 0.95 kg (2 lb), plastic, acrylic, DM 49.50. Picture credit: photography Andreas Kugel / © copyright Dieter Rams Archive (page 157, left)
HW 1, 1968, Bathroom scales, Dieter Rams, Dietrich Lubs, Braun. 27 × 31 × 6.5 cm (10½ × 5 × 2½ in) 4 kg (8¾ lb), metal, plastic, acrylic, DM 34.50. Picture credit: photography Andreas Kugel / BRAUN P&G, Braun Archive Kronberg (page 155)
Dieter and Ingeborg Rams private residence, Kronberg, Germany, 1971, Dieter Rams. Picture credit: Ingeborg Kracht-Rams (page 183)
Dieter Rams: The Complete Works is available for pre-order now ($59.95) and will start shipping on October 28th.
Source: core77