Page 37 - VE Magazine - Issue 26

homeware
Above: The 1961 Braun PCV 4, is a portable record player with built-in amplifier and speakers. The elements combine to form a small suitcase - just open and dance the night away!
Left: The PS 2 turn table is beautifully simple in its design. Below: The Braun audio 308 from 1973 sits beautifully on top of the Kangaroo stand that Rams designed in 1968
The Braun PC 5 was the first high fidelity record player to be fitted with an acrylic dust cover
ing panel proudly displayed on the top next to the turntable for all to see, rather than hidden away at the side.
That these mechanics were on view to all was down to Rams. Originally, they tested a metal cover but it vibrated too much so was replaced, on Rams suggestion, with transparent plastic. Crit- ics expected people to be repulsed by the sight of electrical apparatus but enthusiastic buyers con- sidered it chic! Transparent lids became an indus- try standard and Rams became a name to watch.
Rams’ focus for Braun’s products was ease of use – he wanted people to enjoy using them. “In- difference towards people and the reality in which they live is actually the one and only cardinal sin in design,” he has said. This meant that each audio product had to be perfectly attuned to the music people wanted to play. As tastes changed through the 60s, Braun’s engineers constantly strove to adapt to pop, rock, folk and then electronic music.
THE VITSΠCONNECTION
A separate Vitsœ company was established to produce and sell Rams’ furniture designs, which were intimately related to the audio products he was designing at Braun. In particular his mod- ular Universal Shelving System was linked to the equipment it carried by the materials he used: anodised aluminum and a light grey paint finish. As Rams designed the Braun audio devices, they corresponded with units so they could be fixed
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