May 20, 1932
Born in Wiesbaden
Early involvement with the carpentry trade, mediated by his grandfather, who was a master carpenter

Apr – Sep 1947
Started studying architecture and interior design at the Kunstgewerbeschule Wiesbaden, attending lectures in the pre-semester

Oct 1947 – Sep 1948
Attending lectures of Dept. Interior design

Sep 1948
Interruption of studies, start of a carpentry apprenticeship

Oct 1951
Resumes studies at the Wiesbaden School of Applied Arts, which in the meantime had been reformed by Dr. Hans Soeder into the Werkkunstschule (School of Applied Arts).

Jul 1953
Diploma with distinction for the design of the banking hall of a bank

Oct 1953 – Jul 1955
Collaboration in the architectural office of Otto Apel, Frankfurt am Main

Jul 1955
Start at Max Braun oHG, Frankfurt am Main, as interior designer

1956
First furniture designs and acquaintance with Otto Zapf

Jul – Nov 1957
Grand Prix at the 11th Triennale in Milan for the complete Braun program (including SK 1 / 2, exporter 2, PA 1, SK 4 and transistor 1)

Jul – Sep 1957
Exhibition of numerous new Braun appliances (especially SK 4) in the show apartments at the Inter- national Building Exhibition (IBA 1957) in West Berlin

Apr – Oct 1958
Presentation of 16 new Braun devices at Expo Brussels

Dec 1958 – Feb 1959
Five Braun appliances designed by Dieter Rams, Hans Gugelot / Dieter Rams and Gerd A. Müller become part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York

1960
Scholarship of the Kulturkreis im Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie (BDI)

1961
Appointment as head of the product design department at Braun AG

1961 and 1963
Supreme Award of the exhibition Interplas of the plastics industry in London

1965
Art Award for Industrial Design Young Generation Berlin together with Reinhold Weiss, Richard Fischer and Robert Oberheim

1968
Appointment as Director of Product Design at Braun AG

Jun 1968
Hon. RDI (Honorary Royal Designer for Industry of the Royal Society of Arts), London

Jan 1978
Awarded the Minerva Medal by the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers (SIAD), London

Nov 1980
Opening of the exhibition Dieter Rams & at the International Design Center (IDZ) in Berlin; subsequently numerous other venues in Europe

Nov 1981
Appointed professor of industrial design at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg

1985
Appointment as Académico de Honor Extranjero of the Academia Mexicana de Diseno, Mexico City

Nov 1987
Honorary member of VDID (Association of German Industrial Designers)

1987 – 1998
President of the German Design Council, since 2002 Honorary Founder

1989
Haus Industrieform in Essen honors the Braun design department as Design Team of the Year

Aug 1990
Dieter Rams becomes the first recipient of the Industrie Forum Design Hannover award for his special services to design

Jul 1991
Awarded an honorary doctorate (Doctor Honoris causa) by the Royal College of Arts, London together with Giorgio Armani, Lord Norman Foster, R. B. Kitaj and David Lynch

1992
Awarding of the Ikea Prize. Dieter Rams uses the prize money to establish the Dieter and Ingeborg Rams Foundation for the Promotion of Design

1992 – 1995
Member Executive Board ICSID (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design)

1996
Award of the World Design Medal by the Industrial Designers Society of America

Jun 1997
Award of the Hessian Order of Merit

1997
Leaving Braun AG

1997
Retirement from the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg

May 1999
Appointed member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin

Sep – Nov 2001
Exhibition Dieter Rams House Centro de Exposiconés Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon

Oct 2002
Awarded the Grand Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Jun 2004
Design Award ONDI for outstanding contributions to the field of industrial design and to world culture, Havana

Sep – Oct 2005
Exhibition Dieter Rams – Less but better | Weniger, aber besser, Zen Temple Kenninji, Kyoto

Feb 2007
Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany for Lifetime Achievement

May – Jul 2007
Exhibition Design: Dieter Rams, State Museum of Ceramics, Kuskovo Estate, Moscow

Nov 2007
Lucky Strike Designer Award from the Raymond Loewy Foundation

Nov 2008 – Jan 2009 
Exhibition Less and More. The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams, Suntory Museum, Osaka; further stations: 2009 Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo; 2009 / 2010 Design Museum, London; 2010 Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt am Main; 2010 / 2011 Daelim Museum, Seoul; 2011 / 2012 SF Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA), San Francisco

Nov 2011
Hessian Culture Award together with Prof. F.C. Gundlach and Prof. Gunther Rambow

Jul 2012
Distinguished Affiliated Professor at TUM (Technical University of Munich)

Nov 2012
Moholy-Nagy Award, Moholy-Nagy University for Art and Design (MOME), Budapest

Apr 2013
Honorary Doctorate of Arts, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California

Sep 2013
London Design Medal Lifetime Achievement Award of the London Design Festival

May 2014
International Compasso d’Oro Award for Lifetime Achievement ADI Milano (Premio Compasso d’Oro ADI alla Carriera Internazionale)

Nov 2016 – March 2017
Exhibition Dieter Rams. Modular World, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein

Since 2017
Annual permanent exhibition of Dieter Rams at the Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt am Main

Sep 2018
Premiere of the documentary Rams, (74 min.), at the SVA Theatre in New York, produced and directed by Gary Hustwit, original music by Brian Eno, numerous other theatrical premieres worldwide

Nov 2018 – Apr 2019
Exhibition Dieter Rams: Principled Design, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

Apr 2021 – Jan 2022
Exhibition Dieter Rams. A look back and ahead, Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt a.M., further stations: April 2021 – July 2021 Goethe Institute New York and Washington D.C., May 2023 – June 2023 ADI Design Museum Milan, June – Oct. 2023 Wiesbaden City Museum (sam)