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mmediately after the 1901 exhibition, behrens sold his magnificent home on the Mathildehohe and began teaching at the dusseldorf school 

of applied arts (kunstgewerbeschule). He was its director in 1903–1907 and significantly changed the method of instruction, devoting more time to studio work and to the study of materials and technologies.

 

 

b

ehrens started work with Berlin-based aeg (Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft) in 1906. By the next year he was the factory’s artistic 

consultant. behrens designed all of aeg’s graphic materials (advertisements, exhibit brochures, catalogs, the covers of the firm’s magazine), devised the firm’s new logo, designed factory buildings for it in various cities (the turbine factory in Berlin, 1908–1910, is the

best known) and exposition pavilions. In short, he was the first person in history to create a thoroughgoing corporate graphic style.

 

 

In addition, he worked on aeg’s products: lamps, clocks, fans, electric kettles. And behrens did more than sketch their outlines.

He took a hand in the engineering itself, standardizing subassemblies to make them interchangeable. This was true industrial design.

Ventilator, aeg, designed by peter 

behrens, 1908. Photo courtesy of aeg

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Ventilator, aeg, designed by peter 

behrens, 1908. Photo courtesy of aeg