Dieter Rams designed the Braun TP 1 portable transistor radio and phonograph in 1959. MoMA identifies its construction as plastic housings held within an aluminum frame, with a leather strap for carrying. The museum’s example measures 4.4 by 23.5 by 15.2 centimetres, dimensions that emphasize how compactly the different parts were brought together.
The two sections share a pale surface but remain easy to distinguish. A circular field of speaker openings marks the radio, while the record-playing section exposes its circular drive area. The enclosing metal frame gives the paired objects a common edge. Against this orderly arrangement, the leather strap is a softer element that also makes the intended handling of the object explicit.
The TP 1 is a useful companion to Braun’s larger SK 4 radio-phonograph. Both combine broadcast reception and recorded music, but they organize those functions at different scales. The portable unit turns the combined listening device into something that can be carried, revealing the same design vocabulary applied to a different situation.
Braun SK 4 radio-phonograph
