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Visiting the annual Braun collectors fair

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Re: Visiting the annual Braun collectors fair

#21

Post by zemvpferreira »

farslan wrote: post #7
maxglute wrote: post #4

Apart from watches, Braun design language last couple decades have felt pretty uninspired.

I agree. However since 2009 the Head of Design has been Oliver Grabes, and I love where is he heading. He started to think more about legacy Braun design and started incorporating old design elements in their never elements.

Personally I don't think you can capture lightning in a bottle twice. Dieter's principles were absorbed into the culture, which is really as good as it gets. Resulting of course in Apple, the current apex of industrial design.

Important product categories are different, households are different, mass manufacturing processes are completely different. Braun pushed the envelope so much. Designing products now using the language of the 20th century seems...to miss the point at the least.

Nothing against Oliver's work, but for Braun to be a true design powerhouse again would take a clean slate, and I don't see how that can be done.

Re: Visiting the annual Braun collectors fair

#23

Post by gffrd »

moritz wrote: post #14
jrmg wrote: post #5

I’d love to read an account of the ‘fall’ of Braun. Through my adult life, basically the only thing it makes that are still ubiquitous are electric shavers - which are great shavers, but hardly icons of design. Was there internal drama that led to this contraction in the diversity of what they made? Did it happen fast or slow? I feel like there must be a good story in there.

Sold to Gilette in 1967, expansion into many different areas after. Then, I guess their story is not really unique, they shared the fate of all European household appliance manufacturers — increasing competition from Asian companies, so by the 1990s, Braun was dead. After Procter & Gamble bought them in 2005, it now mostly exists as a brand to be licensed (everything other than shaving and electric toothbrushes).

They have good clocks, still. Not sure who manufactures them.

They have a clock-specific website, braun-clocks.com, that shows P&G as the registrant.

Re: Visiting the annual Braun collectors fair

#25

Post by jnaina »

Family had a Braun Mixer type 4142 when I was growing up and I used to marvel at the design. Clean lines, subtle curves, the stark simplicity of the dial. Had no idea who Dieter Rams was and his design legacy at Braun.

Bought a Braun Aetlier 1 Stereo as a collectors item much later in life, to pay homage to Rams. A thing of beauty that now is a centerpiece, sitting next to the NeXT Cube.

Re: Visiting the annual Braun collectors fair

#26

Post by resolutebat »

elisbce wrote: post #22

Braun is the only shaver brand that I can confidently get a smooth clean shave without getting rashes or pulled beard. Esp. their series 9 which cuts even curly beard perfectly. This says a lot about their engineering design superiority.

Here in Australia, the "Series 9 Pro 9467cc" apparently costs $449. That's a pretty steep ask when a perfectly passable Remington goes for $23.

Re: Visiting the annual Braun collectors fair

#27

Post by shiroiushi »

Reason077 wrote: post #18
moritz wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sold to Gilette in 1967, expansion into many different areas after. Then, I guess their story is not really unique, they shared the fate of all European household appliance manufacturers — increasing competition from Asian companies, so by the 1990s, Braun was dead. After Procter & Gamble bought them in 2005, it now mostly exists as a brand to be licensed (everything other than shaving and electric toothbrushes).

And now days the toothbrushes use the "Oral-B" brand, so Braun is only really known (in international markets) for shavers.

No, the electric toothbrushes are called Braun in markets outside the US. I've only seen them labeled Oral-B in the US.

Also, they're pretty lousy toothbrushes IMO. I recommend Panasonic ones instead.

Re: Visiting the annual Braun collectors fair

#28

Post by gnabgib »

Reason077 wrote: post #18
moritz wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sold to Gilette in 1967, expansion into many different areas after. Then, I guess their story is not really unique, they shared the fate of all European household appliance manufacturers — increasing competition from Asian companies, so by the 1990s, Braun was dead. After Procter & Gamble bought them in 2005, it now mostly exists as a brand to be licensed (everything other than shaving and electric toothbrushes).

And now days the toothbrushes use the "Oral-B" brand, so Braun is only really known (in international markets) for shavers.

My toaster, kettle, coffee maker, emersion blender, hand mixer, shaver and toothbrush are all labelled Braun (the toothbrush also says Oral-B, but that co-labelling started in 1984[0]). That said, Proctor & Gamble makes finding Braun appliances in North America rather tricky (special order only, never on a store shelf).

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral-B

Re: Visiting the annual Braun collectors fair

#29

Post by eru »

moritz wrote: post #14
jrmg wrote: post #5

I’d love to read an account of the ‘fall’ of Braun. Through my adult life, basically the only thing it makes that are still ubiquitous are electric shavers - which are great shavers, but hardly icons of design. Was there internal drama that led to this contraction in the diversity of what they made? Did it happen fast or slow? I feel like there must be a good story in there.

Sold to Gilette in 1967, expansion into many different areas after. Then, I guess their story is not really unique, they shared the fate of all European household appliance manufacturers — increasing competition from Asian companies, so by the 1990s, Braun was dead. After Procter & Gamble bought them in 2005, it now mostly exists as a brand to be licensed (everything other than shaving and electric toothbrushes).

> [...] they shared the fate of all European household appliance manufacturers — increasing competition from Asian companies, so by the 1990s, Braun was dead.

Miele and Bosch etc are still going strong. So I'm not sure what you mean by 'European household appliance manufacturers': they have faced the competition from Asian companies and survived.

Re: Visiting the annual Braun collectors fair

#30

Post by eru »

shiroiushi wrote: post #27
Reason077 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And now days the toothbrushes use the "Oral-B" brand, so Braun is only really known (in international markets) for shavers.

No, the electric toothbrushes are called Braun in markets outside the US. I've only seen them labeled Oral-B in the US. Also, they're pretty lousy toothbrushes IMO. I recommend Panasonic ones instead.

> No, the electric toothbrushes are called Braun in markets outside the US.

In some markets, maybe. In some other markets outside the US, they also use the Oral-B brand.

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