Beogram Memories

In this month's Belle, in an interview with designer Jasper Morrison, responsible for items like this:

(chair for Cappellini) 

and this:

(part of the Crate series)

he reveals the following in response to the question about how his uncle's study inspired his design aesthetic:

'Flashback to the year 1964 in a foggy wet England and imagine a young boy, suffocating from the over upholstered interiors of the typical English home, suddenly finding himself in a room with plenty of daylight, wooden floors, white rugs, modern Danish furniture and a record player designed by Dieter Rams and you'll understand why the first experience of that room made such an impression on me.  The atmosphere of that room changed my whole attitude to life, if a 5 year old can have an attitude to life.  I understood that design could bring about these powerful changes of atmosphere that could lift the spirity and make life more rich and that's why I decided to become a designer.' 

(A record player designed by Dieter Rams looks like this:

When I was little I spent a lot of time in my parents library room, which was filled with shelves of books like this:

and this:

but the best thing about that room was this record player owned by my parents:

(Bang and Olufsen Beogram 3400, in production from 1975 - 1979)

This man certainly got a good airing on this record player.  I guess sleepless nights as a 7 year old are okay if you have to listen to Neil. 

The Beogram was the first truly modern thing I can remember seeing.   I couldn't believe its smooth silveryness.  And the turntable was not just black rubber, but an optical illusion of black and silver circles.    It didn't turn me into a world famous designer, but it certainly made me love all things modern and clean lined.   

(Image of Beogram from beophile.com) 

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