Join us for our Summer Seminars 2026, “Craft, Design, and the Machine in Modern Life,” a six-part online lecture series!

Led by SMCF Executive Director Jonathan Clancy, Ph.D., this series explores a series of conversations spanning the Arts and Crafts movement to contemporary debates about technology and AI, where we invite you to explore what design means, what it can accomplish, and how the relationship between machines and culture continues to shape our lives. Together, these seminars use moments from history not as a comprehensive narrative, but as opportunities to learn, reflect, and engage in the important discussions that the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms seeks to foster.

Lectures may be purchased individually or as a complete series. Click here for the full course description.

Week #5: August 1, at 1:00 PM EDT via Zoom
From Bauhaus to Braun (or Ten Principles for Good Design)

Good design is as little design as possible. The aim of design is by no means the sterile sparseness that I and other like-minded designers have been accused of producing. Instead, it is the freedom from the dominance of ‘things.’ – Dieter Rams, Less But Better (1995).

Back to purity, back to simplicity! – Dieter Rams, Less But Better (1995).

Finally codified in 1995 as his Ten Principles of Design, Dieter Rams’s approach to objects demonstrates a remarkable consistency with ideas that emerged in late 19th design reform. Simply put, Rams believed that design should make the world a better place. Inseparable from the aesthetic concerns for Rams were the ethical ones and he stressed design should be “environmentally friendly,” “durable,” “aesthetic,” and “useful.” Like the Victorian reformers a century before him, Rams wanted objects that did not compete for attention but brought about a sense of repose or what he called “a level of calm that allows people to return to themselves.” For Rams, the machine needed to be subservient to the human, helpful but unobtrusive, a means to assist rather than a source of frustration. This session will examine Rams’s work at Braun, using the ten principles of design as a guide and considering his impact even today. Additionally, we will think about the degree to which these principles are useful for objects of any period.

A La Carte
Member Price: $30 / session
Non-Member Price: $35 / session

Full Course
Member Price: All 6 sessions for $150 (one session free)
Non-Member Price: All 6 sessions for $210

Registration is required. Once registered and paid, you will receive an email prior to each session with a link to join.

Do you have a scheduling conflict for the live session? You can still enjoy the program. Register and we’ll send you the recording! All paid attendees will be emailed a private link to the session recording when it is available, typically 6-7 days after the live program.

Missed us? You can also register retroactively. If you register for a session that has passed, you’ll receive access to the recording when it is ready.

Haven’t tried a session yet? Each session is planned as a “stand-alone” lecture, so you can take them all or attend the topics that interest you most.