Sound of Design. Wirtschaftswunder. Photo: Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum (A. Laurenzo)
Sound of Design. Wirtschaftswunder. Photo: Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum (A. Laurenzo)
The sound of the ‘Economic Miracle’
Sound of Design
In the 1950s and 1960s many countries experienced a rapid economic upturn. Many new firms surged into the market and with a whole raft of new products vied with one another for customers. Individual products such as typewriters or cameras were designed and produced in ever greater variations for increasingly precisely defined groups of users. Simultaneously, as electricity networks became more powerful the increasing diversity of mechanical products was joined by numerous electrical appliances all jostling for a position on the market. From electric razors via electric beaters through to portable radios these penetrated more and more areas of everyday life.
Be it mechanical or electrical, each of these products brought a new sound with it. To coincide with our “Sound of Designˮ Web App we are presenting a selection of appliances from the 1950s and 1960s that stand out for their pioneering design, and whose sounds became characteristic for the epoch.
The Web app itself doesn’t need to be downloaded and can instead simply be opened in your browser at WWW.SOUND-OF-DESIGN.DE.
All readers who would like to dive even further into the “Sound of Design” can listen to Susanne Lettenbauer’s podcast on DEUTSCHLANDFUNK. Furthermore we refer to the article “Symphonie des Alltags” by Franziska Horn on SPIEGEL ONLINE as well as the article “Klack – schnalz – surr” in the Bayerische Staatszeitung.
The presentation is supported by:
The app was made possible by the support of:
Pinakothek der Moderne, München
Online. Presentation