Braun.
Designed for what matters.

We believe that good design can make lives better - 100 years ago, now and in the future.

For 100 years, Braun has kept to three important principles, inspired by people: Good design is simple, useful and built to last. Until today, people all over the world turn to us because Braun products make life better. They trust in our brand when it counts the most: Whether they want to prepare that special dinner for a first date, iron their best shirt for an important job interview or prepare a vast breakfast for the whole family.

From inventor’s workshop to global brand

Ingenious.

In the early 1920s, engineer Max Braun founds a machine-building workshop in Frankfurt am Main. On the strength of its groundbreaking inventions for the emerging radio broadcasting industry, the firm opens its own factory building with 400 employees in 1928.

Helpful.

During the postwar period, Braun expands its product range with newly developed devices that simplify everyday life. In 1950, simultaneously with the first foil shaver, the Multimix food processor makes its market debut, inaugurating the company’s household line.

Visionary.

After the sudden death of Max Braun, his sons take the company helm in the early fifties. They lay the groundwork for a people-focused corporate culture that extends to all areas of the company – from its letterhead to its exhibition stands, its health service to its whole-foods cafeteria.

Less, but better.

Under the aegis of design legend Dieter Rams, Braun’s radical new Bauhaus-inspired, functional product design sets a new style standard. The company won a rapid succession of national and international prizes and awards for its products. Braun became world-famous as a design brand, and the company became the first to introduce “good design” to the mass market.

Innovative.

Braun reaches the limits of a family-run firm. In the late sixties, Gillette takes over the successful enterprise with its 5,700 employees. This opens up new markets and distribution channels to Braun. Investments increase the company’s innovative strength and broaden its product range, which soon grows to include coffeemakers and electric irons. Characteristic German design, quality and engineering prowess bolster Braun’s standing against cheaply produced competing products.

Today.

Procter & Gamble’s takeover of Gillette in 2005 makes Braun one of twenty-four global brands of the largest consumer-product group in the world. P&G transfers the rights to the Braun brand in the area of household appliances to De’Longhi S.p.A. in 2012. Along with the corresponding patents and production facilities, De’Longhi acquires a large part of Braun’s employees, thereby ensuring that Braun household appliances will continue to offer distinctive design, technological innovation and reliable quality far into the future.

Braun produced the KM 3 food processor for more than three decades.

Here you can see the KM 3-31 model from 1957. The development of the KM 3 began with the construction of a test model to determine the most suitable rotational speed for the drive. After extensive mixing and kneading trials, the development team designed the drive unit. When it came to the form of the KM 3, the design department developed various models of the base plate, bowl, mixing arm and motor base that were combined with the technology until the first preproduction model, the wistar, emerged.

The 10 Principles of Good Design by Dieter Rams

Hired as an architect for redesigning Braun’s office Dieter Rams became one of the leading designers, who developed Braun’s memorable design language and defined the 10 principles of good design, a design manual that is still relevant today.

1 Good design is innovative.

The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design.

2 Good design makes a product useful.

A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

3 Un bon design est esthétique.

La qualité esthétique d’un produit fait partie intégrante de son utilité, car les produits que nous utilisons chaque jour affectent notre personne et notre bien-être. Mais seuls des objets bien exécutés peuvent être esthétiques.

4 Un bon design rend un produit compréhensible.

Il clarifie la structure du produit. Mieux encore, il peut faire parler le produit. Au mieux, il est explicite.

5 Un bon design est discret.

Les produits qui remplissent une fonction sont comme des outils. Ce ne sont ni des objets décoratifs, ni des œuvres d’art. Leur design doit donc être à la fois neutre et sobre, afin de laisser à l’utilisateur la possibilité de s’exprimer.

6 Un bon design est honnête.

Il ne rend pas un produit plus innovant, puissant ou précieux qu’il ne l’est en réalité. Il n’essaie pas de manipuler le consommateur avec des promesses qui ne peuvent pas être tenues.

7 Un bon design est durable.

Il évite d’être un objet de tendance pour ne jamais paraître démodé. Contrairement au design suivant la tendance, il perdure de nombreuses années, même dans la société actuelle du jetable.

8 Un bon design est soigné jusque dans les moindres détails.

Rien ne doit être arbitraire ou laissé au hasard. Le soin et la précision du processus de design témoignent du respect envers le consommateur.

9 Un bon design est écologique.

Le design contribue largement à la préservation de l’environnement. Il préserve les ressources et minimise la pollution physique et visuelle tout au long du cycle de vie du produit.

Braun Design is environmentally friendly.

10 Un bon design est un design aussi minime que possible.

Moins, mais mieux : parce qu’il se concentre sur les aspects essentiels, et que les produits ne sont pas alourdis par des éléments non essentiels. Retour à la pureté, retour à la simplicité.

Take a video tour through the Braun Museum in Kronberg, near Frankfurt.

The Braun Museum showcases the great history of Braun with many insides and interesting facts and figures about products from the past and today.

Nous construisons des produits pour une vie meilleure : à l’époque, de nos jours et à l’avenir.

1953 | Braun Factory

Braun Multimix Blender

The 50's established the milkshake as a western staple, enabled in part by the Multimix, the state-of-the-art blender with a detachable mixing glass container. It cuts ingredients with industrial-grade efficacy. Still widely in use today.

1957 | Gerd Alfred Müller

KM3/31

A hugely influential blender or “food processor” as it was known that birthed a whole new product category: “kitchen machines” or appliances. With its hyper-reduced, simple and useful design one of the most influential industrial products of all time.

1963 | Reinhold Weiss

KSM 1/11

Design doesn’t get much more minimalistic than this: a coffee grinder so purpose-built it needed just one, centrally placed button to operate. Finely ground beans were just a finger click away.

1963 | Reinhold Weiss

HT 2

This toaster’s sleek, reduced design so inspired renowned artist Richard Hamilton that he based one of his works (aptly titled ‘Toaster’) on it. Oh, and it also browned bread to perfection.

1972 | Florian Seiffert

KF 20

With a stacked, vertical design that resembled a water tower, the KF 20 was known as the Aromaster. Instantly recognizable for its unconventional shape, this coffee maker added a touch of the extraordinary to everyday morning filter coffee.

1972 | Jürgen Greubel, Dieter Rams

MPZ 22

This electric juicer, also known as the citromatic, was a dependable and incredibly easy-to-clean staple of kitchens across the world for decades. It took over two decades before Braun decided an update to the original design was due.

1981 | Ludwig Littmann

MR 6

A precursor of the more sophisticated MR 500, the MR 6 was sturdy and tough, meaning it could blend foods that other products couldn't handle. An important stepping stone on the way to perfecting the handheld blender.

1984 | Hartwig Kahlcke

KF 40

This coffeemaker was somehow controversial within Braun, being made of cost-efficient polypropylene rather than sturdier polycarbonate, Braun's go-to plastic. Hence the KF 40's corrugated surface states a design solution that won over Dieter Rams.

2016 | Markus Orthey, Ludwig Littmann

MultiQuick 9

An all-round food blender that condensed the functionalities of devices many times its size into a simple, handheld 'wand'. The definition of reduced design: compact, yet powerful.

A brief story about the history of Braun household products.

Today’s success of Braun’s household products is based on a company history full of excellent science and thoughtful development. We have brought together a few of Braun’s leading light creations, from the very beginning until today. Even more time travelling and a thrilling online experience awaits if you visit the Virtual Braun Museum.

Visit the Museum

Food preparation

Cooking

Breakfast

Garment Care

Get inspired

Support

Food preparation

Cooking

Breakfast

Garment Care

Get inspired

Support

Braun.
Designed for what matters.

We believe that good design can make lives better - 100 years ago, now and in the future.

From inventor’s workshop to global brand

Ingenious.

Helpful.

Visionary.

Less, but better.

Innovative.

Today.

Braun produced the KM 3 food processor for more than three decades.

The 10 Principles of Good Design by Dieter Rams

Take a video tour through the Braun Museum in Kronberg, near Frankfurt.

Nous construisons des produits pour une vie meilleure : à l’époque, de nos jours et à l’avenir.

A brief story about the history of Braun household products.

Food preparation

Cooking

Breakfast

Garment care

Get inspired

Sustainability

Service

Search Quick Links

Food preparation

Cooking

Breakfast

Garment Care

Get inspired

Support

Food preparation

Cooking

Breakfast

Garment Care

Get inspired

Support

Braun.Designed for what matters.

We believe that good design can make lives better - 100 years ago, now and in the future.

From inventor’s workshop to global brand

Ingenious.

Helpful.

Visionary.

Less, but better.

Innovative.

Today.

Braun produced the KM 3 food processor for more than three decades.

The 10 Principles of Good Design by Dieter Rams

Take a video tour through the Braun Museum in Kronberg, near Frankfurt.

Nous construisons des produits pour une vie meilleure : à l’époque, de nos jours et à l’avenir.

A brief story about the history of Braun household products.

Food preparation

Cooking

Breakfast

Garment care

Get inspired

Sustainability

Service

Europe

Africa & Middle East

Americas

Asia - Pacific

International

Braun.
Designed for what matters.