“Braun doesn’t need to follow these fast trends”
Interview with Duy Phong Vu and Markus Orthey by Gerrit Terstiege
The long-standing Braun designer Duy Phong Vu, now De’Longhi Group Director of Global Design and Markus Orthey, now Braun/De’Longhi Design Director, represent the brand’s presence in the segment of household appliances. Here they talk
about the significance of formal traditions, the parameters of current design processes and the potential of artificial intelligence.
Hand mixers and many accessories: Braun MultiMix 1.
© Roman Knie
GT: De’Longhi has been manufacturing Braun household appliances under licence since 2012. You were both part of the Braun design team in Kronberg for a long time before you switched to Braun Household/De’Longhi in Neu-Isenburg. What has changed in the way you work since then?
DPV: Well, a lot has happened for me. I have been given further responsibilities. In 2012, when Markus and I joined De’Longhi, the focus was on building a new team. We had both worked in Kronberg for around fifteen years and found ourselves at a point where we wondered: what’s next? What attracted me to join De’Longhi was the fact that it was a family-run company. The first meetings I had with De’Longhi were very product-oriented. They always wanted to touch products and talk about them. And that’s exactly what I had missed. As industrial designers, we wanted to concentrate more on the object. And once again be able to design products that go onto the market and are used by consumers. That was my hope—and it was fulfilled. In terms of numbers, in the last ten years at De’Longhi, we have produced around three times as much as I did in Kronberg during all that time.
GT: Can you put a figure on that?
MO: Last year we launched fourteen new products and this year it will be eighteen. And in the last few years, we have rebuilt the entire iron range. In fact, we’ve streamlined and expanded all the product categories. I also feel that the way of working here is more direct: one has much closer contact with people because we are a smaller organisation. And as Phong rightly says, the work is much more product-related and decisions are made more quickly. One makes decisions about new products together with a panel of experts, so to speak. And one also takes on many other tasks because we are like a small family: everyone is involved, not just those working in design.
Team meeting of Braun Household in Neu-Isenburg: Markus Orthey (left) and Duy Phong Vu (centre) with colleagues.
© Niels Geisselbrecht
GT: Speaking of expert advice: is there something like a timetable for the design processes of the various product categories—with fixed meetings and fixed roles?
DPV: Yes, we have fixed deadlines at every organisational level. They are known as release processes. Basically, there is a core team called New Product Development, which, as is the case in all companies, consists of various disciplines. This includes the design, development, engineering, quality assurance, and marketing departments. The product development processes are jointly supervised. From here, we move on to the next level, when certain key steps in project development have been approved. This process is standardised, as it must also be possible to check retrospectively if all steps have been taken. The management is also involved in these processes. After all, the stakeholders naturally also need to approve major investments.
GT: Do you still give presentations using real models? Or do you mainly use digital renderings and computer animations these days?
MO: Model making, which has always been a tradition at Braun, will continue to be practised. Not only at Braun, but also at De’Longhi and Kenwood, because we are talking about objects. Of course, renderings look increasingly better and more brilliant these days. However, we do place a model on the table at quite an early stage. This is just in order to check the size and proportions, handling, ergonomics, aesthetic balance and so on … Perhaps at an early stage, in combination with a rendering, and then later, when the project is 80 per cent clear, we present a ‘concept car’, a high-end model on the table, which then represents the design, and only then do we decide whether to invest in tools or not. But of course, the visual language is very important nowadays as well, in times of Amazon and social media. A product must be attractive in a photo too, not just as a three-dimensional object. Both areas are important today.
DPV: Clearly, something tangible has to emerge at the end—whether it’s an image, a mood board or a preliminary model, that varies for each design phase. It all begins with a sketch, which is the first point of contact between the development team and us, one that clarifies the initial ideas. And this sketch then grows into a three-dimensional form within this process. I have been very committed to ensuring that model making is very much part of the design organisation. It breathes life into a design. That’s what we have learnt in Kronberg—and we have had very positive experiences with it.
GT: This reminds me of images from the past, like those in the new book Braun: Designed to Keep, which was published to mark the 100th anniversary of the brand: Rams at the table with Erwin Braun or Fritz Eichler, in front of a model or prototype. Direct approach—in every respect.
MO: We definitely have a similar situation. The marketing department is less than forty metres away, the quality department is just five metres away, and research and development is just around the corner. Discussions take place every day. People walk into our office and: Bang! Models are brought out of the cupboard and onto the table! We tidy up, and half a day later everything is a mess again. That’s the culture of discussion—with just a few words at the table! (laughs)
GT: How do you actually anticipate the future though? A mixer that is designed today should still look contemporary many years from now.
MO: I think it’s fair to say that everything is somehow becoming more complex. That might have been said twenty, thirty, or forty years ago, but my impression is that when appliances can be understood intuitively, when one ideally doesn’t need an instruction manual, then that’s a very, very good thing. And it’s also appreciated by people, especially in the kitchen context. You often have to act quickly: the water is boiling—it’s hot. The more you have the feeling that a product is helping you to do something well and safely, the better. That’s why I believe that the values of the past described by Rams and Fritz Eichler, themes such as order, functionality and simplicity, still count, and we are trying to adopt them for the present. This attitude is more relevant than ever.
DPV: That’s usually the great challenge for us as designers: to convey complexity in a clear and simple way. And I’m not just talking about product language or how a product is used, but also about experiences. We always try to create a kind of understandable explanation of why things are done the way they are. As designers, we are, in a way, the voice of the end user. We put ourselves in their shoes, take their perspective—with the aim of making things and processes simpler. The question we always ask is: what do consumers really need?
Markus Orthey (right) with his former professor, the designer Florian Seiffert—creator of the famous Braun KF 20 Coffee Maker.
© Politecnico di Milano, Smart Design, 2019
GT: Mr Orthey, the former Braun designer Florian Seiffert was your professor at Mainz University of Applied Sciences. What did you learn from him?n the education of young designers?
MO: I think he has a very distinctive view of his time at Braun. As a student, I liked his sophisticated manner, and the vibrant colours he brought with him. Seiffert introduced me to the product and to coffee machines as a design task. He opened up a world to me that I hadn’t known before. Florian has a positive attitude; he takes on everything and has an inventive spirit—I find that very admirable. He is non-conformist, which probably contributed to the fact that he was only at Braun for a short time. He has designed many impressive products in his professional life, but with the KF 20 he created a real icon.
GT: Which designer from the Rams era was important for your professional development, Mr Phong Vu?
DPV: I am very happy that I was still able to get to know Roland Ullmann and Dietrich Lubs. I worked a lot together with Lubs and I took over and managed the area of product graphics from Peter Hartwein. Our corporate identity was my first responsibility as team leader. Especially in my early days, I learnt a lot from the experienced designers at Braun. My first boss was Ludwig Littmann, a very calm person. One can learn from him by simply observing how he does things. Mr Littmann is the only person I still address formally. He simply has my respect. Littmann taught us to judge with our own eyes when things are right.
Dieter Rams (left), Duy Phong Vu (centre) and Ludwig Littmann as well as Jürgen Greubel, Braun Design department, Kronberg, ca. 2000.
© unknown
GT: I would be interested to know which product by Dieter Rams you particularly appreciate and why.
DPV: His Vitsœ shelving system. It was my personal dream for a long time to own the 606 one day. I then went down the usual route, the ordering process. As a trained craftsman, I was excited at the chance to set it up when all the packaging and boxes arrived at my home. The process is very well thought out: how the boxes are numbered, what to do first, the whole user guidance … supplemented by tips and tricks, such as how to drill a hole without creating dust. This also reflects his philosophy, and his love of detail. I enjoyed spending these three days working intensively with the system so much that I documented the entire set-up process. (laughs)
Left: Assembled and fitted step by step: The Vitsœ 606 Shelving System, in the flat of Duy Phong Vu. On the shelf: a Braun audio 2 system in anthracite.
© Duy Phong Vu
Right: Vitsœ spirit level and wall shelving.
© Duy Phong Vu
Markus Orthey’s atelier system in his living room. Designed by Peter Hartwein and Dieter Rams.
© Markus Orthey
MO: Naturally, there are many great products by Dieter Rams and his team. But, regarding the atelier system, which was realised in collaboration with Peter Hartwein, I have a special relationship: I’ve not had it in my home for that long and it has brought back listening to music, which had long been missing in my life, due to mp3 and streaming. Now I’m enjoying listening to music properly again with the system, which has a phenomenal sound. It stands in the living room like a minimalist sculpture and has a powerful presence in the room: it radiates calm, but also technical expertise and it looks a bit like a small-scale recording studio. The knobs and buttons have a magical appeal. They are well-designed and clearly arranged: for me, a masterpiece of product design.
GT: Let’s take a look into the future: how will the industrial design profession change over the next few decades?
DPV: In some design talks and discussions, young designers are already expressing a degree of fear about how artificial intelligence, for example, will affect their work. However, we approach the topic of AI very openly. We use these technologies as tools to find new things. After all, what won’t change is the need to assess and scrutinise various design options. AI can perhaps aid us in looking at things from a different perspective.
MO: I believe that tools will become easier, for thinking products through. But I’m not afraid of a robot taking something away from me when I’m designing. When I started at Braun, I was the first person to be allowed to design directly in 3D with CAD programs on a trial basis. I was at first eyeballed. Around the turn of the millennium, there was a lot of experimentation and sometimes things got out of hand. However, over the years, once the experimental phase was over, things calmed down again. And that’s how it’s for me at the moment with AI and Chat GPT and VisaNet, and whatever they are all called. Currently, there’s a bit of a wild west feeling. A lot is being tried out and done, but I have confidence that it will stabilise to a healthy level. We recently had the tools design citrus juicers on a trial basis and hung the results on the wall. It’s hard to say what will really come of it.
DPV: We at Braun have always been open to new developments. We wouldn’t be where we are today without these new developments, new materials, surfaces, and technologies. Even the Plexiglas in Snow White’s Coffin was an innovative use of material. There’s always the question: does one want a revolution? Then one immediately pounces on the topic of ‘designing with AI’ and exclaims: we now only design with AI! That’s how quickly one can become a pioneer. Although in our industry, with mass production, that would create a lot of regulatory problems. One must take a long-term view and see when AI really makes sense. Timing is important. So, when this is sufficiently refined, then all these technologies will also benefit us. Let’s take the topic of IoT, or Internet of Things, for example: in future, every object will be digitalised, have an IP number and be networked. That alone is a major challenge and we are already working with large companies in certain product areas. This is of interest right now in the coffee sector. We are already working on it and we are learning from the other categories, from our other brands, what could be relevant for Braun. But Braun doesn’t have to follow these fast-moving trends. We have time. We simply need to ask what and when would really makes sense for our product world.
GT: When we talk about the future, we’re not just talking about technical developments, but also about the planet. Perhaps a new futuristic vision is to do without? It certainly wouldn’t be as spectacular as Colani’s ball-shaped kitchen or the colourful spatial worlds of Verner Panton.
Latest multi-function mixer MultiPractic 3, designed by Braun Household design team in Neu-Isenburg.
© De’Longhi Braun Household
DPV: We have set ourselves particular targets within the company, as the De’Longhi
Group. That applies to all brands. We started asking ourselves a few years ago where we could begin. We realised within our team that a concept involving bamboo cannot be considered sustainable at all, because bamboo needs too much groundwater to grow. And that’s when it really clicked for us and we started a co-operation with experts from Politecnico di Milano. They have one of the largest material laboratories in Europe and are helping us to go through the entire life cycle assessment of our hand blenders, coffee machines … In order to understand where we actually are. This has enabled us to set very clear targets, for example in terms of energy safety for our irons. Or water consumption for our fully automatic coffee machines. How can we improve this? How can we use recycled plastic sensibly? And as a design team, we have decided, for instance, that in future we will no longer design both hard and soft components for hand blenders. That’s because you have to separate different components in the recycling process.
GT: These are also expectations that consumers are increasingly placing on manufacturers. And a European law is currently being planned that will make it easier to repair household appliances.
MO: Besides the values of the Rams era, we now define sustainable design principles that we incorporate into our products. Phong has already stated as much: no more thermoplastic elastomers. We are now intentionally showing screws again to make it clear that the device can be opened and repaired. We tended to hide screws in the past. And we are trying to design products with significantly fewer parts. And using recycled materials. There has recently been a boom in PCR plastics. Two years ago, they were only available in dark brown or beige colours. All of a sudden, a year later, they were available in all colours, including pure white.
DPV: Yes, it’s certainly a process that will take years. But we are now in the implementation phase. We can no longer do without sustainability. This is one of the most important criteria that we are implementing in our design processes today: how to design components and housing parts.
CareStyle 9 steam iron station, designed by Braun Household design team in Neu-Isenburg.
© De’Longhi Braun Household
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Fabio De'Longhi
In 2012, the family-run De’Longhi Group took over the Braun Household division. In our interview, Fabio De’Longhi talks about how he sees Dieter Rams‘ legacy and what he expects from the future in terms of design, production methods and management strategies.
Lord Norman Foster
Lord Norman Foster on Dieter Rams: “His work is in many ways quite witty. The touches of colour, the changes of contrast. It’s wonderfully optimistic. There’s a lightness of touch. There’s an elegance.”
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