systems - a retrospective of 1960s braun design at moda in paris

systems – a retrospective of 1960s braun design at moda in paris

systems: a retrospective of 1960s braun design
moda international, paris
from january 29th to february 27th, 2015

though braun and walter knoll are focused on different areas of product creation — the former with industrial design, and the later with furniture design — the two are prime examples of the precision and high attention to technical and formal details that have helped define german design history. both of their ideologies have been strongly influenced by the bauhaus and the german modernism movement, making them major references in today’s modern world of design; so, it is no surprise that one admires the other.

braun HL 1 multiwind

with a desire to bring forth the values and principles that continue to guide braun’s production to this day, walter knoll hosts a retrospective that highlights the developments of the electronic and appliance company’s developments throughout the 1960’s; while also inviting a group of 34 graphic artists to interpret the systematicity of braun design through their own visual means.

braun atelier 3

first presented in london at the end of 2013, ‘systems’ now travels to paris where it takes to the moda international showroom. curated by das program — online archive and gallery of designs by dieter rams for braun — the core of the exhibition is a presentation of the commissioned posters that respond to braun’s prevailing aesthetic sensibility, offering a snapshot of today’s graphic design scene, arranged in a single grid of A1 prints, further pushing this notion of systems of order which braun is so known for.

1960s braun graphic design presenting the ratio between quality and price of an object

alongside these prints is an extensive display of braun’s own graphic design from the 1960s, exuding a rigour and beauty that was essential to the overall coherence of the brand’s systematic character and programme at the time. braun products from the 1960s are also on display, including flash light systems, lectron system and top of the range audio system.

braun graphic designs from the 1960s

the basis of ‘systems’ was to collect a variety of responses to braun’s design. the resulting exhibition captures a certain degree of consistency between braun’s original creations and the mid-century modernist ideal, and the grouping of the new designs. from repetition and development to nostalgia and critique, the diversity to the ‘systems’ brief expresses the legacy of modernist graphic design with renewed by uncertain relevance. the juxtaposition of these posters with the contributions from braun, implicitly pose the question of form that modernist design is to take in the present day, and the timelessness it must possess if it is to last throughout the decades.

poster design by hey (barcelona)

‘systems’ is curated by das program and produced in association with braun. exhibition design and graphics — cataloge (forthcoming) labelling, printed guide, wall text, window vinyl — were undertaken by giorgio del buono and michal polak.

poster design by hey (barcelona)

the following graphic designers and creative agencies contributed their visual answers to braun design: almost modern (rotterdam); andré hernâni meca (lisboa); antonio carusone (new york); artivadesign (genoa); bernd grether (london); bibliothèque (london); braun design (kronberg); cartlidge levene (london); derek kim (san francisco); design project (leeds); dominic dyson typeandline (london); henry coleman (london); ibán ramón + dídac ballester (valencia), experimental jetset (amsterdam), felix pfäffli (luzern), hey (barcelona), L2 M3 (stuttgart); lundgren+lindqvist (gothenburg); mark gowing design (newtown); muirmcneil design systems (london); neubau berlin playgroup (london); remake brooklyn (new york); ross gunter (london); spin (london); studio FNT (seoul); studio job nynke tynagel + job smeets (antwerp); studio sport ronnie fueglister + martin stoecklin (basel + zürich); ™ david mamie + nicola todeschin (geneva); tomasz berezowski (katowice); tom hingston studio (london); and toormix (barcelona).

design by L2M3 / sascha lobe (stuttgart)