Behrens' artistic development predestined him for a congenial collaboration with industry and a completely new design philosophy and its implementation. He was keen to improve the quality of mass-produced handicrafts. In doing so, he responded to a rapidly growing need. After his first graphic design commissions, AEG entrusted him in 1907 with his first product design task for an area that was the most widespread and popular application of electricity at the time – electric lighting. Behrens was to “design artistic forms (...) for (carbon arc) lamps and all accessories.” In redesigning the housings for arc lamps, AEG and Behrens pursued a concept that was revolutionary at the time: the form should not copy historical styles, craftsmanship, or materials (other than those actually used), and should not deny industrial production, but rather emphasize it – and the mechanical production methods should be carried out with precision. AEG took the step of “bringing (...) arc lamps into line with the artistic demands of modernism.” Peter Behrens is considered the prototype of the industrial designer.
His designs for arc lamps, with their clear design language and reduced geometric shapes of triangles, squares, and circles, became pioneering for a completely new design culture: industrial art and industrial design.
In 1907, he designed the world's first product, the large arc lamp. Over time, it became an icon of industrial design. From 1908 onwards, Behrens designed other types of arc lamps and products such as small electrical appliances for domestic use (e.g., tea kettles, water kettles, fans, heaters), small motors, clocks, switchboards, etc. From small appliances to turbines, his products all bear his distinctive design signature.
Peter Behrens is not only considered a pioneer of modernism and the first “industrial designer” (Julius Posener), but also the inventor of corporate identity.
As part of his corporate identity concept—ranging from company lettering to graphic designs and product design to industrial architecture—the entire image of a large corporation was comprehensively defined and standardized for the first time.
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