Hans Gugelot (original) (raw)
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(1920–65)
An influential product designer closely identified with the radical Hochschüle für Gestaltung (HfG) at Ulm in Germany and the clean, systematic, and functional styling of Braun products of the later 1950s and 1960s, Gugelot initially trained in engineering (1940–2) and architecture (1940–6) in Switzerland. He worked in Bauhaus graduate Max Bill's office in Zurich, following the latter to the HfG when invited by him to lead the product design programme in 1954. He subscribed to the Ulm philosophy of design that rejected traditional notions of the intuitive, creative individual designer in favour of a collaborative multidisciplinary and scientific approach to design. With other Ulm lecturers, Otl Aicher and Fritz Eicher, Gugelot was invited to work with Braun on a consultancy basis, commencing with the design of radios. He also worked closely with Dieter Rams of Braun on the minimalist design of the SK4 radiogram cabinet (1956), as well as a number of other products in the following years including the Sixtant razor (1962) with Gerd Alfred Müller. He also managed a number of live products with his students, including designs for the Hamburg U‐Bahn underground (1959–62). Other clients included Bofinger, for whom he designed the modular M125 office system (1957), and Kodak for whom he designed the Carousel slide projector (1962).