Dezeen Magazine

Dieter Rams at Moss in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles branch of New York design retailer Moss presents an installation of Dieter Rams' 606 Universal Shelving System.

Thursday's opening party was attended by Rams and Philippe Starck, and Moss have obligingly sent a few party photos over. Above: Rams with Murray Moss. Below: Rams, Moss and Starck.

The show was first held at Moss' New York store last year.

Here's the details of the installation followed by the press release:

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ART OF REASON

Moss & Vitsoe & Professor Dieter Rams present an installation of the 606 Universal Shelving System and the 620 Chair Program, designed in 1960-62 by Dieter Rams for Vitsoe. This is the Hollywood version of the installation at Moss in New York in 2006. Expect statuettes.

Exhibition opens to the public on Thursday, October 25 and runs through Saturday, November 24.

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For Immediate Release

Art of Reason

The 606 Universal Shelving System and 620 Chair program, 1960-62
designed by Dieter Rams for Vitsoe

Los Angeles – Rational Design, as we know it, is best represented by the half-century prolific output of German industrial designer Dieter Rams. Having designed a number of the most treasured Modernist icons, Professor Rams, particularly through his work for Braun AG (1955-1997) and Vitsoe (1957-present), repeatedly, quietly, diligently, and consistently introduced ‘sustainable development’, clarity of purpose, discretion, environmentalism, and intelligence into industrial design.

Perhaps his most defining statement is “Good design is as little design as possible.”

As the second major exhibition in its new gallery in Los Angeles, Moss has created an installation of the 606 Universal Shelving System, Rams’ definitive Rational Landscape. Art of Reason will also serve as the West Coast re-launch of the 620 Chair Program, which has not been distributed in the US in over 30 years.

Generally acknowledged today as one of the 20th century’s definitive Modern designs, the 606 Universal Shelving System is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Design Museum London. In continuous production for over forty-five years, and with constant input from Professor Rams, this functional, highly systematized organizational tool embodies Rams’ philosophies of Good Design. Almost autobiographical in nature, the 606 articulates, through its sculptural modesty and precision, Dieter Rams’ Art of Reason.

Like its sibling the 606 Universal Shelving System, the 620 Chair is also a ‘kit’ of individual parts, allowing for the simple interchangeability of castors for either feet or a swivel base, as well as for the replacement of the low back for the high back. Multiple units of the chair can also be connected to create a sofa of indeterminate length.

The 620 Chair is in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Design Museum London. Both the 606 Universal Shelving System and the 620 Chair Program are available exclusively in North America through Moss.

The exhibition opens to the public on October 25 and will remain on view until November 24.

Moss Los Angeles
8444 Melrose Ave
voice: 323.866.5260