“I designed this bag in the same way I designed everything else, so largely based on right angles, but perhaps a little more emotionally, more personally. Designing a handbag is undoubtedly different to designing a Braun stereo system, but I applied the same principles. It had to be functional, visually durable, and very aesthetic. Less, but better.”
Dieter Rams
In November 2018, we introduced our collaboration with one of the most influential industrial designers of the past decades. Together with Dieter Rams, we revisited one of his designs from 1963 that was never published: the women’s handbag 931, dedicated to his wife Ingeborg.
Dieter Rams, born in 1932 in Wiesbaden, Germany, is considered one of the most influential industrial designers of the past decades. His products for Braun and Vitsoe inspire creatives around the globe to this day. The “Ten principles for good design,” which he formulated from the mid-1970s onwards, pointed even then to the challenges design in particular and our society as a whole are facing today more than ever.
Having worked in the field of product design for more than 40 years, Dieter Rams remains highly relevant. With missionary zeal, he continues to claim to this day that the correct understanding of design can help create a better world.
Handcrafted by skilled artisans in our family-owned leather workshop in Offenbach am Main, the 931 handbag is now available in a new colourway: a warm, supple burgundy calfskin, crafted in Sweden by a tannery awarded the Gold Standard rating by the international sustainability certification body Leather Working Group, meeting the highest standards for traceability, environmental management, and social compliance.
Find out more about our collaboration with Dieter Rams and the love story behind his design of a handbag here.
