Braun
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(established 1921)
This German electrical and audio-visual equipment manufacturer has for more than half a century been associated with high-quality designs, many of which have featured prominently in museum collections and design competitions around the world. Its origins lay in the radio accessory manufacturing company founded in 1921 by Max Braun near Frankfurt. However, it was not until after the end of the Second World War that the company expanded its product range to include the domestic appliances upon which its international reputation soon began to emerge. Following the death of Max Braun in 1951 his sons Artur and Erwin took over the management of the company, diversifying into electric razors and audio equipment, including the Kombi radiogram by Wilhelm Wagenfeld. However, the establishment of the Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) at Ulm in 1953 had a profound influence on the design of Braun products, cemented by the appointment of Dr Fritz Eicher, a lecturer from the HfG, as head of Braun's design department in 1956. This Ulm-Braun axis had commenced in 1954 with the involvement of Eicher and fellow HfG lecturers Hans Gugelot and Otl Aicher. This was invigorated further through the employment of two graduates of the Wiesbaden Academy of Applied Art, Dieter Rams (who joined in 1955, becoming Braun's design director in 1960) and Gerd Alfred Müller. Epitomizing the functional aesthetic that was to become the hallmark of Braun products over succeeding decades was the elegant restraint of the ascetic Phonosuper SK4 radiogram of 1956, designed by Rams and Gugelot. This ‘look’ was further consolidated in Müller's design of the KM31 Kitchen Machine of 1957 with its clean sculptural forms punctuated by minimalist graphics. Such a visual presence was at the root of its corporate and brand identity. Braun products were increasingly widely exposed in the latter part of the 1950s, receiving favourable attention for their display (designed by Gugelot) at the Milan Triennale of 1957. They also featured at the Frankfurt Radio and Television Exposition and the Berlin International Building Exhibition where Braun products were displayed in the majority of show houses. The clean Modernist appearance of Braun products was closely identified with the international ‘Good Design’ ethos of the 1950s and 1960s and was in complete contrast to the extravagant styling of many ephemeral products, an iconic potential that was confirmed by the New York Museum of Modern Art's exhibition of Braun products in 1964 (a number of which had featured in MOMA's permanent collection since 1958. However, the company's absolute and exacting commitment to quality design did not equate with commercial success and the company was taken over by Gillette in 1967. This facilitated greater international market penetration and product diversity across a number of fields, from hairdryers to coffee machines and calculators to electric toothbrushes. Nonetheless the functionalist appearance remained an essential ingredient of the Braun agenda. By the 1990s, with the consumer appetite for originality and wit in everyday products undiminished by the economic recession of the 1980s, many Braun products took on a more colourful, less restrained appearance in order to remain competitive in the highly competitive market place for domestic goods.
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IN BRIEF: n. - United States rocket engineer (born in Germany where he designed a missile used against England); The German mistress of Adolf Hitler (1910-1945).
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Braun (company)
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| Type | Private (subsidiary of Procter & Gamble) |
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| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Fate | Acquired by The Gillette Company in 1984 |
| Predecessor(s) | Braun AG |
| Founded | Frankfurt am Main, Germany (1921) |
| Founder(s) | Max Braun |
| Headquarters | Kronberg, Germany |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | John P. Goodwin, President – Global Braun, Beauty & Grooming Prof. Oliver Grabes, Head of Design Dieter Rams, Chief of Design 1961–1995 |
| Products | Electric razors Hair clippers Epilators Electric toothbrushes Coffeemakers, toasters, blenders Clothes irons |
| Parent | Procter & Gamble since 2005 |
| Website | braun.com |
Braun GmbH (help·info) (German pronunciation: [bʁaʊn], commonly pronounced as "braun" in English), formerly Braun AG, is a German consumer products company based in Kronberg. From 1984 until 2005, Braun was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Gillette Company, which had purchased a controlling interest in the company in 1967. Braun is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Procter & Gamble, which acquired Gillette in 2005. On 16th April 2012, the Italian company De'Longhi acquired the household part of Braun from Procter & Gamble.
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Contents
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Products
Braun's products include the following categories:
- Shaving and grooming (electric shaving, hair trimming, beard trimming)
- Oral care (now under the Oral-B brand)
- Beauty care (hair care and epilation)
- Health and wellness (ear thermometers, blood pressure monitors)
- Food and drink preparation (coffee makers, coffee grinders, toasters, blenders, juicers)
- Irons
- Clocks, watches and calculators
It was formerly a manufacturer of radios, slide projectors, Super 8 film cameras and accessories, and high-fidelity sound systems.
Nowadays Braun focuses on its core categories (shaving and grooming, beauty care, food and drink preparation, and irons). Health and wellness category as well as clocks and watches are now run by other companies (Zeon, Kaz) under licence.
History
Max Braun, a mechanical engineer, established a small engineering shop in Frankfurt am Main in 1921. In 1923 he began producing components for radio sets. In 1928 the company had grown to such an extent, partly due to the use of certain plastic materials, that it moved to new premises on Idsteiner Strasse.[1]
Eight years after he started his shop, Max Braun began to manufacture entire radio sets in 1929. Soon after, Braun became one of Germany's leading radio manufacturers. This development continued with the launch of one of the first combined radio and record players in 1932.
In 1935, the Braun brand was introduced, and the familiar logotype with the raised "A" took form. During World War II Braun was compelled to more or less abandon products for the civilian sector. At the 1937 World's Fair in Paris, Max Braun received the award For special achievements in phonography. In 1944, the Frankfurt factories were almost entirely destroyed and Max Braun began to rebuild his company with 150 employees.
Then, Braun continued to produce state-of-the art radios and audio equipment, and soon became well known for its "high-fidelity" audio and record players, including the famous SK line. In 1954, the company also began producing film slide projectors, a mainstay of its business for the next forty years. By 1956, Braun was marketing the first fully automatic tray film slide projector, the PA 1.[2] Braun AG slide projectors all utilized a linear or straight tray as opposed to a carousel-type design, which allowed the projector to remain small and compact.[3]
The 1950s also marked the beginning of the product that Braun is most known for today: the electric shaver. The S 50 was the first electric shaver from Braun. The shaver was designed in 1938, but World War II delayed its introduction until 1951.[4] It featured an oscillating cutter block with a very thin, yet very stable steel-foil mounted above it. This principle is still used in Braun's shavers of today.
In 1962, Braun became Braun AG, a publicly traded company. In 1963, the company started distributing microphones by U.S. manufacturer Shure in Germany. Also during the 1960s, Braun created the Rams-designed T3 pocket radio. By this time, Braun's film slide projectors were featuring high-quality optics and all-metal construction combined with sleek functionalist styling, and competed with higher-end Eastman Kodak and Leitz products in the global market. In 1967, a majority share of the company was acquired by the Boston, Massachusetts-based conglomerate Gillette Group.
By the 1970s, Braun had begun to focus on home consumer appliances, including shavers, coffee makers, razors, clocks, and radios. The company's line of film slide projectors and hi-fi products was discontinued. In 1998, Braun AG was transformed into a privately held company.
In 1981, the company's audio and hi-fidelity division, which grew out of Braun's former core business of radios, turntables, and hi-fidelity audio products, was spun off into Braun Electronic GmbH, a legally independent Gillette subsidiary. Braun Electronic GmbH put out its last audio-fi set in 1990 before the business was discontinued. Also in the early 1980s, Braun sold its photographic and slide projector division to Robert Bosch GmbH.
In 1982, Gillette Group moved to integrate Braun with the parent company by taking full control over its operations. In 1984, Braun ceased the production of cigarette lighters. That same year, Braun became a wholly owned subsidiary of Gillette.
By the mid-1990s, Braun held a leading position among the world's home appliance manufacturers, but profitability concerns began to surface. Many of Braun's competitors closely imitated Braun designs and had them produced in low-cost labor countries at lower costs.[5] The litigation commenced by the company to reverse the sales losses and damage to its product image cost Braun substantial amounts of money.[5]
In 1998, Gillette decided to transform Braun AG into a private company before it bought back a 19.9 percent share in its subsidiary The Gillette Company Inc., which Braun had acquired in 1988.[6][7] The following year, Braun's sales organization was merged with those of Gillette's other business divisions to cut costs. At the end of the 1990s, Braun and Gillette suffered losses in several areas. Looking for ways to return to profitability, Gillette considering the disposal of some of Braun's less profitable divisions, such as electric toothbrushes, kitchen appliances, and thermometers, but abandoned the idea a few months later when no buyers were found.[8] Braun's sales in those areas began to recover in 2000.
Gillette was acquired by Procter & Gamble ("P&G") in 2005, making Braun a wholly owned subsidiary of P&G. In early 2008, P&G discontinued sales of Braun appliances, except shavers and electric toothbrushes, in the North American market.[9] In Europe, however, Braun keeps selling all its core categories.
In 2011, Braun fully sponsored the international b-boy competition Battle of the Year.[10] to support its new franchise of electric shaver, cruZer.
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Headquarters of the company in Frankfurt am Main, 1960.
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Braun Sixtant SM2
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Braun SK2
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Braun SK5, nicknamed "Snow White's coffin"
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Braun D 40 slide projector
Design department
From the mid-1950s, the Braun brand was closely linked with the concept of German modern industrial design and its combination of functionality and technology. In 1956, Braun created its first design department, headed by Dr. Fritz Eichler, who instituted a collaboration with the Ulm School of Design to develop a new product line.[11] In 1956 the company introduced its famous SK4 record player ("Snow White's Coffin"), designed by a youthful Dieter Rams together with the pioneer of system design, Hans Gugelot, then lecturer of design at the Ulm School of Design.[12] Rams soon became the most influential designer at Braun.[13] Rams[14] was a key figure in the German design renaissance of the late 1950s and 1960s. Eventually becoming head of Braun's design staff, Rams' influence was soon evidenced in many products. Braun's famous SK 4 record player and the high-quality "D"-series (D25–D47) of 35mm slide projectors are some of the better examples of Functionalist design.
Another 'icon' of modern design, but less well known, is the electrostatic loudspeaker unit BRAUN LE1, the electronics were licenced from QUAD. Dieter Rams and Dietrich Lubs are also responsible for the classic range of Braun alarm clocks, collaborating first on the AB 20 in 1987. These designs were discontinued by Braun in 2005. For nearly 30 years Dieter Rams served as head of design for Braun A.G. until his retirement in 1995 when he was succeeded by Peter Schneider. Many of his designs - sleek coffee makers, calculators, radios and razors—have found a permanent home at the Museum of Modern Art.
In the 1970s, a design approach influenced by pop-art began to inspire Braun products, which by this time included many common household appliances and products. Contemporary Braun design of the period incorporated this new approach in bright colors and a lightness of touch, while still clean-lined in keeping with Functionalist philosophy.
See also
Footnotes
- ^ British Design Innovation History of Braun
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Not to be confused with the Paximat and Novamat slide projectors produced by Carl Braun Camera-Werk, a different company.
- ^ Shaver Companies Histories
- ^ a b Braun Sieht Bei Kopien Rot, Süddeutsche Zeitung, March 1, 1997
- ^ Die Braun AG firmiert zur GmbH um, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, September 24, 1998, p. 26
- ^ Gillette-Ertrag leidet unter Schwierigkeiten bei Braun, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 17, 1999, p. 22
- ^ Gillette sucht Käufer für Teile von Braun, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, February 24, 2000, p. 28
- ^ "Bye, Bye Braun". foodandwine.com. January 30, 2008. http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/mouthing-off/2008/1/30/bye-bye-braun-some-shocking-news.
- ^ "BOTY Loves Braun". braunbattleoftheyear.com. August 2, 2011. http://www.braunbattleoftheyear.com/boty-braun.html.
- ^ Bürdek, B. E., Design: History, Theory And Practice Of Product Design, Basel: Birkhäuser Publishing (2005), ISBN 3-7643-7029-7, p.55
- ^ Wichmann, H., Systemdesign Bahnbrecher: Hans Gugelot 1920-1965, Basel: Birkhäuser Publishing (1987), ISBN 3-7643-1911-9
- ^ Design Museum Biography of Dieter Rams
- ^ Furniture of Dieter Rams
References
- Wolfgang Schmittel: Design, concept, realisation: Braun, Citroen, Miller, Olivetti, Sony, Swissair, Zurich 1975
- Jo Klatt, Günter Staeffler: Braun+Design Collection. 40 Jahre Braun Design von 1955 bis 1995. Hamburg 1995
- Hans Wichmann: Mut zum Aufbruch. Erwin Braun 1921 bis 1992. München 1998,
- Bernd Polster: Braun. 50 Yeats of Design and Innovationen 2009 (German edition, Cologne 2005)
- Less and More. The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams. Catalogue.Design Museum, London 2009
- Bernd Polster: Kronberg Meets Cupertino. What Braun and Apple really have in common. In: Apple Design, Hamburg 2011
External links
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Oxford Dictionary of Modern Design
A Dictionary of Modern Design. Copyright © 2004, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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