RT 20 radio
The design of the RT20 radio is based on the design idiom Dieter Rams established with Hans Gugelot to produce the SK4 radiogram in 1956. Made from beech with coated sheet steel, the RT20 was the last tabletop radio produced for Braun.
The RT20 is a composition of circles and rectangles, with lines reconciled within circles (the speaker grill) and circles reconciled within lines (the buttons and knobs). The form is consistently evolved from only these elements. This reduction produces a unifying balance to the surface and coherence to the controls.
German industrial designer Dieter Rams (1932 -) joined Braun in 1955 as an architect and an interior designer. In 1961 he was appointed Chief Design Officer, a position he held until 1995. Rams’ designs for Braun are a product of the analytical rationalist method inherited from the Ulm School of Design. They demonstrate the orderly treatment of form and materials. By removing elements vying for the user’s attention, the devices present clarity.
