The Beauty of Braun Vs. the Dying Art of Hand-Repaired Hi-Fi
The sleek simplicity of Braun’s designs has made them design icons.
The shockwaves left by its uber-simplified alarm clocks and uncomplicated handheld razors can still be felt in product design today, making it prime fodder for a constant stream of exhibitions, think pieces, and academic papers breaking down its monumental impact on how today’s consumer products look.
Honest Machines, presented in Hong Kong’s WOAW gallery, is another of those exhibitions. However, beyond looking at the mid-century modern design language of Braun’s most famous creations, it’s also interested in using the revolutionary technology inside of them.
“What set this apart from previous Braun exhibitions was that the objects weren’t just showpieces to be admired,” Dr. Bujar Aruqaj, curator of the exhibition and founder of the audio workshop RadioHack, tells Highsnobiety. “They were all serviced and visitors listened to music, fully experiencing the gear as it was meant. In that, the machines remained honest to their purpose.”
A sound-art exhibition, Honest Machines presents a range of audio equipment designed by the pioneering Dieter Rams during his time at Braun in the 1960s and ‘70s.
This includes meticulously crafted Hi-Fi equipment like the AG Wall System from 1965, a multi-functional music system compromising of two flat speakers, storage space, a record player, and a tape recorder all designed to conveniently hang from a wall. (The same design was recreated by the late Virgil Abloh in 2021, he described it as “functional art".)
Alongside these home audio systems are smaller relics from Braun’s trailblazing past, like a streamlined pocket radio and battery-operated record player that is a precursor to the modern-day iPod.
“Braun radios and Hi-Fi equipment from that era are not only timeless in design; they stand as landmarks of quality and longevity,” says Aruqaj. “What I’ve always admired about Dieter Rams’ designs is their seamless integration into everyday life. They quietly emphasize the human over the object.”
Based in Berlin, Aruqaj started RadioHack as a side hobby, repurposing pocket receivers to be compatible with new streaming technology. Today, it is a collection and workshop dedicated to preserving, restoring, and repurposing high-quality vintage audio gear.
This exhibition, the outcome of a long-year exchange with collectors in Hong Kong, offers a look at both his craftsmanship and that of the original makers of the audio equipment. It’s an ode to the precise engineering needed to create and maintain long-lasting equipment before modern-day automation took over.
“I included the schematics and transparent housings to reveal the complexity of these systems — the inner life that was once assembled by hand,” says Aruqaj. “It’s a craftsmanship I grew up with, and one that today feels like a dying art.”
