2024-02-23 22:06:40
Famous for its devices with a minimalist, refined and avant-garde design, Apple would have drawn its inspiration from a German giant: Braun.
Apple has always stood out particularly for the quality of its products, but also their extremely minimalist design and ahead of their time. The iPod wheel offered a fairly revolutionary approach for its time, while the iPhone was the first consumer cell phone to lack a keyboard.
Apple owes all these innovations to a team of experienced designers, led by Jony Ive, today cited as one of the masters of design in tech. But there is almost always something that inspired the creators to arrive at their finished product. For Apple, legend has it that it is a famous German appliance manufacturer who inspired the greatest apple creations. That company is Braun.
Created in 1921 in Frankfurt, the Braun company experienced enormous growth in the interwar period. Although it is mainly known today for its care devices for men and women, Braun quickly became a pioneer in the consumer audio industry, with high-quality radios and speakers. The German firm owes these devices largely to Dieter Rams. This designer, still unknown at the time, would, from 1956, allow the company to be a pioneer in audio devices.
Although they are excellently made, the firm’s devices are above all offered with a rather avant-garde design. This is how it was the first to market a turntable with a Plexiglas cover or a stackable hi-fi system. In 1958, the German participated in the creation of the Braun T3 radio. It will then be innovative, since it only offers a speaker with, below, a wheel to adjust the frequency. Does this remind you of something? Yes, to the very first iPod…
On the left, the Braun T3 radio, on the right, the first iPod.
Other blatant examples
However, this is only one example of this inspiration that Apple and Jony Ive would have drawn from the German giant. Take the example of the Braun T1000 portable radio, marketed in 1967. Here, the resemblance is less striking. Yet when you look at the radio’s color tones and overall appearance, it’s hard not to catch a glimpse of the Power Mac G5, produced from 2003 onwards.
The brushed metal appearance and the grille on the side are used by Apple for its Power Mac G5. Of course, it’s not obvious, but the inspiration is definitely present in the design of the computer.
Perhaps the most troubling case is that of the iPhone’s first calculator. If it no longer looks like that today, the calculator of the first iPhone was very clearly modeled on the Braun ET44 calculator from 1977. Here, we should rather see it as a kind of homage as the resemblance is striking.
Other examples are quite striking, such as the 2007 iMac which would be inspired by the Braun LE1 speaker.
What is even more impressive is that Dieter Rams’ creations have managed to mark an era, but not only that. Several decades later, they still serve as inspiration for certain companies, proof if there is any with Apple.
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