Tom Strong’s 50-year obsession with the German electronics brand Braun began innocently enough. Soon after he got married, his wife purchased a few household appliances designed by Dieter Rams for Braun. As the years went on, Strong, a graphic designer, became more fascinated with them and became a full-fledged collector. Eventually, he accumulated over 250 classic Braun products, many of which are now on view in an NYCxDesign-related exhibition at Vitsœ’s New York showroom.
Dieter Rams-designed Braun products are now part of museum collections around the world and fetch tens of thousands of dollars on eBay. They’ve become outright design fetish objects thanks in part to the influence of Apple–the tech company’s early products were indebted to Braun–and the rise of minimalism. But to Strong, they were just good, functional products that fulfilled a need. He lived with, and used, these designs everyday.