Dita Ram's at Braun and the products that he designed, they come out of this idea of well functioning, well designed objects. That has important implications for Steve Jobs and Apple products. The iPhone has certain connections to the way in which those Braun calculators were designed. IKEA is also an example that's bandied around. It is well designed objects for the masses. We can debate the ecological implications of essentially what's throw away furniture now. But I think that legacy is connected to the Bauhaus.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Bauhaus which began in 1919 in Weimar, Germany, as a school for arts and crafts combined, and went on to be famous around the world. Under its first director, Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus moved to Dessau and extended its range to architecture and became associated with a series of white, angular, flat-roofed buildings reproduced from Shanghai to Chicago, aimed for modern living. The school closed after only 14 years while at a third location, Berlin, under pressure from the Nazis, yet its students and teachers continued to spread its ethos in exile, making it even more influential.
The image above is of the Bauhaus Building, Dessau, designed by Gropius and built in 1925-6
With
Robin Schuldenfrei
Tangen Reader in 20th Century Modernism at The Courtauld Institute of Art
Alan Powers
History Leader at the London School of Architecture
And
Michael White
Professor of the History of Art at the University of York
Producer: Simon Tillotson