Less but better.

With this design philosophy, Dieter Rams shaped Braun products for decades and also conveyed those of his competitors.

The design convictions of the German chief designer by no means end in aesthetic questions.

"Better" also meant that industrial products should be innovative, useful, understandable and durable.

A requirement that many products fulfilled at least until the beginning of the nineties, as the volume "Soft Electronics" suggests.

Anna Lena Niemann

Editor in the “Technology and Engine” department.

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For the book, Dutchman Jaro Gielens has selected the most iconic, bizarre and useful items from his private collection, which includes 1,200 small household appliances from past decades.

They also come, but not only, from the pen of Rams, who designed far more than turntables and world receivers.

Soft electronics products are everyday technology from England to Japan, from AEG to Moulinex to Toshiba.

Coffee grinders, citrus presses or Lady Braun's air cushion drying hood are thoroughly products of their time.

At the beginning of the 1960s, more and more women were able to enter the professional world, while at the same time they still carried the burden of housework to a large extent.

Anyone who wanted to bring successful household appliances onto the market not only had to put attractive products on the shelves, but also make it credible that work in the kitchen and bathroom could be done faster and more efficiently with them.

The mixer wrote a success story, as did countless coffee machines, including the beautiful Futura Electronic 4109 made of glass, chrome and red plastic.

Jean-Louis Barrault, who also designed the Méhari for Citroën, designed it for Moulinex.

New materials were introduced that were easy to clean and handle, linoleum, bakelite and, of course, plastic.

Colors, in turn, served to differentiate from the competition.

Technical refinements are often neglected in the accompanying English texts.

However, the minimalistically photographed devices manage to draw a nostalgic look at the household technology of yesteryear.

If you don't own the electric roasting knife from Krups, you at least know it from grandma's kitchen.

The soft styler from Braun, a hair dryer in avocado green, evokes the hair world of the eighties in a flash thanks to its gigantic diffuser.

And what would a party in the seventies be without a table grill, ice crusher and cocktail sauce from the mayo mixer?

More of that wouldn't be bad.