Company that produces light bulbs, household appliances, audio equipment, medical equipment and other electronic appliances. During the 1950s, a group of industrial designers was connected to the factory with the task of giving recommendations on form and colour for radio, television and small household appliances. Another design department was occupied with giving advice to others who requested it. In an article in the magazine Economische voorlichting (1958), the company claimed that the products developed from a close collaboration between science, technique, and design, and that the stage in which a designer is involved in a product varies according to the nature of the product. However, it is the commercial expert ‘who ultimately decides whether the design is accepted or rejected or who requests specific changes’. Louis Kalff was the art director.
During the 1960s, Philips took over many existing companies, such as Van der Heem, Indola and Rudolf Blik. Under Kalff’s successor Rein Veersema, the design department expanded. The people who worked there included Joop van Osnabrugge and Frans van der Put, while there was also a design department in The Hague for the sub-brands of the acquired factories, where Joop Istha worked. When Veersema left in 1964 because he had a different view on industrial design within the company than that of the Board of Directors, Frans van der Put became interim manager of the Corporate Industrial Design Centre (CIDC), as the department was now called. The Norwegian Knut Yran was put in charge in 1966. In the May 2005 issue of Product, Van der Put recalled that Philips wanted an international figure, and he called Yran dictatorial and charismatic. He was succeeded by Bob Blaich, followed by Stefano Marzano in 1991 – 2011.
Archive
The archive of Philips Design is housed at Philips Company Archives.
The archives of individual Philips designers from various periods are housed at the Regional History Centre Eindhoven and are currently being made available.
Ruud Nordt – designer 1968-1997
Frans van der Put
Philips Museum
www.philips-museum.com
Book
Frans van der Put, 40 jaar industriële vormgeving en Philips-designmanagement (’40 years of industrial design and Philips design management’)
Louis Kalff Institute, Industrial Design Heritage Centre
Author Ivo Blanken, published by [Z]OO producties, ISBN: 978-90-74009-91-1
www.zooproducties.nl (in Dutch)
Source: Visies op Vormgeving, Frederike Huygen