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 Good design is aesthetic.

The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our person and our well-being. But only well-executed objects can be beautiful.

4 Good design makes a product understandable.

It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory.

5 Good design is unobtrusive.

Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.

6 Good design is honest.

It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.

7 Good design is long-lasting.

It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years - even in today’s throwaway society.

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 | Usine Braun

Braun mixeur Multimix

Dans les années 1950, le milkshake a révolutionné l’occident, en partie grâce au robot Multimix, un mixeur ultra moderne équipé d’un bol en verre amovible. La découpe des ingrédients est d’une efficacité industrielle. Encore utilisé de nos jours.

Braun Multimix Blender – Braun Factory 1953

1957 | Gerd Alfred Müller

KM3/31

Un mixeur ou « robot multifonction » très performant, précurseur d’une toute nouvelle génération : le « robot pâtissier ». Au design épuré, simple et pratique, l’un des produits industriels les plus emblématiques de tous les temps.

1963 | Reinhold Weiss

KSM 1/11

Le design n’est pas plus minimaliste que cela : un moulin à café si bien conçu qu’il ne nécessite qu’un seul bouton central pour fonctionner. Les grains finement moulus s’obtenaient d’une simple pression du doigt.

1963 | Reinhold Weiss

HT 2

Het slanke, gereduceerde ontwerp van dit broodrooster was zo’n inspiratie voor de beroemde kunstenaar Richard Hamilton, dat hij er een van zijn kunstwerken (treffend ‘Toaster’ genoemd) op baseerde. En het roosterde het brood natuurlijk perfect.

1972 | Florian Seiffert

KF 20

Met een gestapeld, verticaal ontwerp dat op een watertoren leek, stond de KF 20 bekend als de Aromaster. Dit koffiezetapparaat, dat direct te herkennen was aan zijn ongewone vorm, voegde iets excentrieks toe aan de dagelijkse filterkoffie ’s ochtends.

1972 | Jürgen GIndien reubel, Dieter Rams

MPZ 22

Deze elektrische sapcentrifuge was al tientallen jaren een betrouwbaar item in te keuken en tevens gemakkelijk te reinigen. Het duurde meer dan twee decennia voordat Braun besloot het ontwerp bij te werken.

1981 | Ludwig Littmann

MR 6

De MR 6 was een voorloper van de meer verfijnde MR 500. Hij was stevig en sterk, en kon zo het voedsel mengen waar andere producten moeite mee hadden. Een belangrijke opstap naar het perfectioneren van de staafmixer.

1984 | Hartwig Kahlcke

KF 40

Dit koffiezetapparaat was ietwat controversieel, omdat het gemaakt werd van kostenefficiënt polypropyleen in plaats van steviger polycarbonaat. Vandaar dat het golvende oppervlak van de KF 40 een ontwerpoplossing was die Dieter Rams heeft overtuigd.

2013 | Markus Orthey, Ludwig Littmann

MultiQuick 9

Een allround blender die de functionaliteiten van veel grotere apparaten heeft gecombineerd in een eenvoudige, handige 'staaf'. De definitie van gereduceerd ontwerp: compact, maar toch krachtig.

Een kort verhaal over de geschiedenis van Braun’s huishoudelijke producten.

Het succes van de huishoudelijke producten van Braun, is gebaseerd op een bedrijfsgeschiedenis vol uitstekende wetenschap en doordachte ontwikkeling. We hebben een aantal van de meest toonaangevende producten van Braun samengebracht, van het allereerste begin tot het heden. Indien je het Virtual Braun Museum bezoekt, nemen we je mee op een reis door de tijd.

Bezoek het museum

Food preparation

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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.

Een kort verhaal over de geschiedenis van Braun’s huishoudelijke producten.

Food preparation

Cooking

Breakfast

Ironing

Service

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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.

Een kort verhaal over de geschiedenis van Braun’s huishoudelijke producten.

Food preparation

Cooking

Breakfast

Ironing

Service

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Braun.
Designed for what matters.