Peter Behrens

Peter Behrens began in painting and Jugendstil decorative design before co-founding the Deutscher Werkbund in 1907 to bridge art and mass industrial production. In 1907, the industrial conglomerate AEG appointed Behrens as its artistic advisor, effectively making him history's first comprehensive corporate brand designer.

Behrens designed AEG's logo, typefaces, arc lamps, electric teapots, and factory complexes, culminating in the monumental AEG Turbine Factory in Berlin (1909)—a temple of modern industry in steel, glass, and concrete. In his Berlin studio, three giants of modern architecture—Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Le Corbusier—trained simultaneously.