Electric Kettle by Peter Behrens
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| Peter Behrens |
Peter Behrens, a trained architect and designer, was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1868. From 1886 to 1888 Behrens studied at Gewerbeschule and from 1888 to 1891 studied at Kunstschule. Joining the avant-garde design group Munchner Sezession in 1893 led him to found the Vereinigte Werkstatten fur Kunst im Handwerk later that year. Between this time to 1907 Behrens accomplished many things including becoming the head of Kunstgewerbeschule, establishing Deutscher Werkbund, and working for German industrial company, AEG. While working for AEG Behrens designed electric kettles, fans, cocks, complete buildings, interiors, ceramics, and glass manufactoring.
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| Electric Kettles |
In 1909 Behrens designed the Electric Kettle for AEG, a sleek kettle inspired by the vast differences in electrical usage at the time. The product motivated consumers to use electricity during the afternoons, since the most electricity was consumed during day and night. Although Behrens believed in a philosophy of "beautify," he decided to created several designs to appeal to many people. The buyer was able to choose the body shape, body color, texture of the kettle, shape of the handle, and whether it would be wrapped in rattan. This gave the buyer a sense of ownership to their own kettle and added a hand-produced feel and look.
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| Bronze Electric Kettle |
The electric kettle I found most appealing consists of polished brass. The texture of the kettle was obtained by a machine-hammered process. The handle is cane-covered and contains an ebony wood knob. The look of the metal gives the kettle a very industrial feel, however the wood feels organic. These two contrasting concepts help to balance each other out beautifully, truly showing how modern the kettle not only was for it's time, but still is today.
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