Soft Electronics - A museum of electronic plastic for the kitchen, bathroom and home. Examples of innovative design for consumer electronics from the 1960s to 1990s.

Welcome to Soft Electronics

This online museum has 1340 examples of small household appliances from the 1960s to 1990s.

All products are complete with the original packaging, and often in mint to new condition. And every item has a reason to be in the collection, like a special feature or innovation. Each also has a story to tell. Stories about industrial design and brands. Or about lifestyle, emancipation, packaging design or useability. Or about how rare an item is and how it has found its way to the collection.

Many items should look familiar if you were born in or before the 1970s, but you haven't seen many of the other items before. They are forgotten products. The high quality of these products was never matched again since the end of the last century. After that manufacturing has moved completely to Asia, and planned obsolescence was put into every product.

In comparison to Hard Electronics these products were designed and built to be used by women in the first place. Each product was supposed to help in daily routines in the household, but still be easy to use and add no extra work or maintenance.

Please enjoy this collection of top items from the past. For now there are only pictures of the boxes. Images of every item will be added subsequently over the next months and years. Also short descriptions will be available next. Until then you can always check instagram for updates.

1

232items

Philips has always been big in consumer electronics. They were very productive and creative from the 1970s to the 1990s with small appliances. They made everything! Mainly placed in the top price range, the overall quality of products was very good to excellent. Many products have original designs and can be recognized easily.
2

116items

Krups started with kitchen scales and coffee grinders. In the 1970s they offered a wide range of small kitchen appliances like mixers, scales and coffee machines. But also bodycare products like hair dryers and dental cleaners. Quality and design of all products was above average and sometimes very innovative. Products often show similarities to Braun products.
3

112items

Rowenta is another big player in the german market. The core products are hot irons. But they made top quality devices for every category. Great coffee makers, grills and toasters. And also a pretty good series of hair dryers and hair styling sets. They also invested a lot of time in developing a nice line-up of dental cleaners.
4

94items

Moulinex was a popular brand and present in most households in the 1970s. They were very succesful in making small appliances avaliable in a lower price range. In 1961 they introduced the slogan "Moulinex libère la femme" (Moulinex, liberator of women). Most products were well built and well designed, sometimes with futuristic styling.
5

80items

Siemens is another large german company with several great products in all the standard categories. Coffee makers and grinders, toasters, citrus presses, hot plates and hair dryers. Many products were also released under the Bosch brand name.
6

79items

Braun is famous for their timeless design and strong brand. For all the other companies they were the reference, and many of the household and bodycare products are true icons even now. The level of innovation and product variation was very high in the 1970s and 1980s, especially with hair dryers and dental cleaners.
7

65items

AEG is one of the companies in the german market that has always had some products in all major categories. From coffee machines to toasters, flatirons and hair dryers. Later they were also busy trying to get a spot in the dental cleaner market share.
8

44items

Melitta is known for everything you need to make a good cup of coffee, like coffee makers, grinders and coffee filters. But in the 1970s and 1980s they also made a couple of other machines like a deep fryer and a air cleaner range. And in the late 1970s the even launched a product line-up specially for the Japanese market, including a food processor.
9

37items

National is the brand of Panasonic for small household appliances in Japan and Asia. They made many great and innovative products since the early 1960s. Often smaller battery powered kitchen tools, but also larger appliances like egg boilers, yoghurt makers and several nice hair dryers.
10

35items

SEB is the other big player in France. Together with brands like Tefal and Calor they created many nice products in many categories. Most of these products were priced lower than comparable products from Germany. The design is excellent and overall build quality is above average.