"My goal is to omit everything superfluous so that the essential is shown to best possible advantage."
Dieter Rams, 1980
Dieter Rams, head of Braun and its prominent designer for forty years, believed that exceptional design is simple design, both visually appealing and functionally sound, relieved of any non-essentials. "As Little Design As Possible" by Sophie Lovell brilliantly shares the relevance of his work in today's design climate in this beautifully illustrated, eight hundred-page paperback.
The book includes interviews with influential industrial designers, such as Naoto Fukasawa, Sam Hecht and Jasper Morrison, who speak to the cultural significance of his design and its timeless quality. Thorough and hypnotizing with well-written texts in both English and German, "As Little As Possible" also illustrates never-before-seen prototypes of unrealized products and engineering models that reveal his design process.
Few designers have been as prolific yet as modest as Rams. Back to purity, back to simplicity: our lives improve when we embrace as little design as possible.
June 2011
