| |
|
| |
Peter Schneider, Director Corporate Design at Braun, talks to Bernd Polster.
Bernd Polster is an independent design critic. Based in Bonn, he is also the design correspondent of the Financial Times Deutschland and has published numerous works on cultural and design history.
|
| |
Am I right in thinking that shavers are among the most important Braun products?
Yes, they are our top product line. I'm not sure exactly how the sales figures break down, but shavers are the basis of Braun's business.
|
| |
Shavers also strike me as being very significant from an image point of view because they are associated so strongly with the company name.
Absolutely! Of course, in the past, Braun was probably best known for its radios and record players. Shavers were just a sideline. It was regarded as nothing short of a revolution here when shavers were moved out of Household Products to become a separate department.
Our former lines of business also included photographic products and, above all, cine film equipment which was marketed under the Nizo brand. Looking back, I can only say thank goodness we abandoned or sold off these activities when we did. Technology has moved on and videotape-based systems have wiped out the market for these products, so it really was the right move for us.
|
| |
But that
Our involvement with electric toothbrushes began early on. Braun Electric International S.A., which was established in Switzerland in 1960, developed an alternative range of products under the "maya" brand name. One of these was the "maya-dent" toothbrush which was launched in 1963. Willi Zimmermann, who was in charge of advertising back then, came up with the design in next to no time. It was produced by Lenco AG and marketed successfully by Braun for about three years. It took another 15 years before we developed our own ZB 1 battery-powered toothbrush within Braun. This went on to become the D1 rechargeable electric toothbrush in 1978. In fact, it was the development of the D1 that marked the start of Braun's own electric-toothbrush product category.
|
| |
How many people are involved in design at Braun today?
Design development is the exclusive domain of the Design Department in Kronberg. Our group currently has 22 permanent employees. With an average of 80 projects p.a. to handle, it's a pretty compact department. But we've developed a special structure and our own way of working which allows us to operate very efficiently and successfully.
- Page 2
|
|
|
|
/home/BraunPrize Overview/
Interview/
Interview/