Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams
In November 2008 an exhibition focusing on the work and design ethos of Dieter Rams began at the Suntory Museum in Osaka, Japan. The exhibition is touring four Museums in Japan and Europe (2 in Japan, 1 in London and 1 in Germany). As an offshoot of this exhibition Keiko Ueki-Polet & Klaus Kemp have curated a beautifully produced book that looks at the full gamut of Dieter Rams’ work. While the book and exhibition do focus largely on Dieter Rams it is important to note that they are as much about celebrating Dieter and his work as they are about celebrating Braun design.
Aesthetically Less and More speaks as much about Dieter Rams’ work as the words and pictures within – the outside is a plain white cover that has a grey outer protective sleeve. While the inside is a mix various paper stocks including a heavier paper stock for the colour photos and a very light paper stock for text, that is almost translucent. The lighter stock is also utilised in several parts of book to illustrate the original sketch overlaid onto a picture the final product. Giving it an element of elegance that many design books lack. It is fantastic to see a design book as it ought to be, designed to reflect the content and subject matter within.
Many other books that look at designers and their work focus on being a coffee table book full of sexy design work. Less and More is so much more than your average coffee table book. It is a brilliant blend of photographs, sketches, models and essays written by the editors of the book, Dieter Rams and several other contributors from the various museums hosting the exhibition. Less and More reveals much more about Dieter Rams and his work than most other books focusing on a designer and their work normally would.
While the exhibition is the starting point for the book and is discussed first up, it is by no means the end point. The book goes on to explore various aspects of Dieter’s amazing work, beginning of course with his early and legendary work with the Braun team.
After a couple of introductory essays on the exhibition and design in Germany in the first half of the 20th century, the reader is thrust into well over 200 pages of full page full colour photographs, detail and holistic shots (some with drafting measurements added), of the earliest work of Braun. This chapter entitled New Generation of Design: Continuity and Change shows the evolution of Braun design and Dieter Rams’ design from 1949 to 1986. Through this visual timeline we are shown the transition from the design work of Artur Braun and other Braun designers to the design work of Dieter Rams. By the end of the chapter we see Dieters work dominating at Braun and then a subtle shift from solely Braun work to some of Dieters other work for the likes of Vitsoe and fsb.
Following on from this we are taken even further back to look at Dieter’s early years in an essay that “attempt[s] to comprehend the conditions, relationships and developmental linage of the services Dieter Rams provided in the early years of his career”. This essay transitions the reader into the fantastic sketch and photograph overlays I mentioned earlier. The book then moves into several hundred additional photographs and another timeline of Dieter’s and Braun’s work. The final part of the book is reserved for several brilliant essays on design, Dieter Rams, Braun design and german design that will keep even the most zealous design intellectual or widely read designer happy.
This book is a must for any designer. It provides a holistic look at Dieter Rams, Braun and their design work in a beautiful constructed and well curated volume that will be an excellent addition to any designers bookshelf. The photographs within will be enjoyed by those looking for visual inspiration, while the high quality essays will keep any design intellectual thinking.
Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams
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was devastated to miss the exhibit, so also picked this up. I’ll just say it made my top 10 design books.