Braun audio 310 hung in the vintage Vitsoe 606 shelving system with hooked-in loudspeakers L46.

vitsoe 606 & braun audio

vitsoe 606 & braun audio

Tho­se who don’t know the Vitsoe 606 shelf by name usual­ly do. This is becau­se it has been an inte­gral part of the home fur­nis­hings of well-off house­holds in Euro­pe and Ame­ri­ca sin­ce the ear­ly 1960s. Pro­fes­sors, doc­tors, archi­tects, crea­ti­ve and art-loving peo­p­le usual­ly have a Vitsoe shelf on one wall or ano­ther. No won­der, sin­ce the Vitsoe 606 has been available in stores wit­hout inter­rup­ti­on sin­ce its crea­ti­on and has remained largely unch­an­ged ever since.

Photo: Catalogue Braun AG, Frankfurt Vitsoe 606 with audio M1 and L46 1960

Vitsoe 606 with inte­gra­ted Braun audio 1 and loud­spea­k­er L 46 from cata­lo­gue Braun AG

Vitsoe 606 vintage shelf with vinyl record holding brackets and speakers L 625 and hooked-in audio 310
Braun audio 310 with hook-in fittings for Vitsoe 606

Audio 310 with hook-in fit­ting for the Vitsoe 606

Braun speaker L46 with hook-in fittings for Vitsoe 606

Spea­k­er L 46 with hook-in fit­ting for the Vitsoe 606

Photo: Catalogue Braun AG, Frankfurt Vitsoe 606 with audio 2 and L310 1960

Vitsoe table 621, arm­chair 620 and shelf 606 with audio 2 from cata­lo­gue Braun AG

The Vitsoe 606 is a true design clas­sic. Desi­gned by Dieter Rams, who is rever­ed and respec­ted world­wi­de as a style-set­ting designer for his many ico­nic designs. At the time, he was the lea­ding designer and pro­duct deve­lo­per at Braun AG in Frankfurt.

In addi­ti­on to the audio divi­si­on and house­hold appli­ances at Braun, Rams also desi­gned and pro­du­ced fur­ni­tu­re, offe­ring new and modern impul­ses to a post-war socie­ty on the move, which were grate­fully accept­ed. The clas­sic music chest was repla­ced by the com­pact Braun ste­reo sys­tems in modern design.

The Vitsoe 606 is a true design clas­sic. Desi­gned by Dieter Rams, who is rever­ed and respec­ted world­wi­de as a style-set­ting designer for his many ico­nic designs. At the time, he was the lea­ding designer and pro­duct deve­lo­per at Braun AG in Frankfurt.

Photo: Catalogue Braun AG, Frankfurt Vitsoe 606 with audio 2 and L310 1960

Vitsoe table 621, arm­chair 620 and shelf 606 with audio 2 from cata­lo­gue Braun AG

In addi­ti­on to the audio divi­si­on and house­hold appli­ances at Braun, Rams also desi­gned and pro­du­ced fur­ni­tu­re, offe­ring new and modern impul­ses to a post-war socie­ty on the move, which were grate­fully accept­ed. The clas­sic music chest was repla­ced by the com­pact Braun ste­reo sys­tems in modern design.

Vitsoe 606 shelf vintage modi­fied with vinyl record storage

Vitsoe 606 shelf vintage modi­fied with vinyl record sto­rage upsi­de down

buy vitsoe 606 vintage & braun audio 310

The jazz lovers from Braun’s Frank­furt deve­lo­p­ment depart­ment, for exam­p­le, enjoy­ed lis­tening to Miles Davis, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and the Oscar Peter­sen Trio. A play­list by Dieter Rams can be found on Gary Hustwit’s website.

modern living

In the 60s, modern living meant living out one’s love of music and posi­tio­ning one’s music sys­tem in a tan­gi­ble and pre­sent way. So it was pro­ba­b­ly an obvious idea to hang the new­ly deve­lo­ped com­pact units of the audio series with inte­gra­ted record play­er, radio and ampli­fier sec­tion in the Vitsoe 606 shelf using spe­ci­al­ly manu­fac­tu­red brackets.

It is not known whe­ther the Vitsoe shelf with its 65 cm width was tail­or-made for the Braun audio series and the L 45, L 46 and L 60 loud­spea­k­ers or whe­ther the body dimen­si­ons of the ico­nic audio devices were deri­ved from the shelf. In any case, ever­y­thing fits exact­ly. The audio series con­tin­ued with the audio 2, audio 250 and audio 300 until, in the ear­ly 1970s, the audio 310, the last and most tech­ni­cal­ly advan­ced model in the series, went on sale.

Vitsoe 606 & Braun audio 2 combination 1962

Vitsoe table 621, arm­chair 620 and shelf 606 with audio 2 and L46 Cata­lo­gue Braun AG

modern living

modern living

In the 60s, modern living meant living out one’s love of music and posi­tio­ning one’s music sys­tem in a tan­gi­ble and pre­sent way. So it was pro­ba­b­ly an obvious idea to hang the new­ly deve­lo­ped com­pact units of the audio series with inte­gra­ted record play­er, radio and ampli­fier sec­tion in the Vitsoe 606 shelf using spe­ci­al­ly manu­fac­tu­red brackets.

Vitsoe 606 & Braun audio 2 combination 1962

Vitsoe table 621, arm­chair 620 and shelf 606 with audio 2 and L46 Cata­lo­gue Braun AG

It is not known whe­ther the Vitsoe shelf with its 65 cm width was tail­or-made for the Braun audio series and the L 45, L 46 and L 60 loud­spea­k­ers or whe­ther the body dimen­si­ons of the ico­nic audio devices were deri­ved from the shelf. In any case, ever­y­thing fits exact­ly. The audio series con­tin­ued with the audio 2, audio 250 and audio 300 until, in the ear­ly 1970s, the audio 310, the last and most tech­ni­cal­ly advan­ced model in the series, went on sale.

vitsoe history

vitsoe history

The com­pa­ny Vitsoe is named after the fur­ni­tu­re maker Niels Wie­se Vitsoe, who, tog­e­ther with the fur­ni­tu­re manu­fac­tu­rer Otto Zapf, has been imple­men­ting Dieter Rams‘ fur­ni­tu­re designs to a high stan­dard of qua­li­ty sin­ce 1959. The lounge chairs Vitsoe Zapf 601 and Vitsoe Zapf 602 were desi­gned in 1960, as was the Vitsoe 606. The tim­e­l­ess and ico­nic wall shelf by Dieter Rams was titled 606 becau­se it was pro­ba­b­ly the sixth pro­duct he deve­lo­ped that year. The pro­duct num­bers Vitsoe 603 to 605 do not appear in the histo­ry, which sug­gests that not every throw was a hit back then either. The 620 sofa and arm­chair series, and the 621 tables pres­sed from pla­s­tic were laun­ched in 1962 and roun­ded off Dieter Rams‘ modern fur­ni­tu­re design. The 606 shelf, 620 arm­chairs and 621 tables are curr­ent­ly available as new pro­ducts direct­ly from Vitsoe.com.