From the late middle-ages, Saxony was technically far advanced and for a long time one of the most innovative regions in Germany. In the nineteen century machine and car  manufacturing became the main industry of the area. This is what Karl Clauss Dietel calls the “humus” from where his passion for technical modernity developed.   

The second influence is the Bauhaus. As a student in KH Weißensee he learned from the “Modernists generation” who

returned back to Germany after the war. The influence of this generation can also be seen in the work of Dieter Rams, who became famous for his minimalistic, functional designs for Braun.

Karl Clauss Dietel’s third influence is the construction-philosophy of communism. Lack of resources and the political plan demanded highly functional and long-lasting products, but Dietel, as a modernist, believes in the touch of the designer as an artist. A product must not just be clean and organized, but also “sensual & graspable”. This way of thinking, considered as “western decadence”, was hindering Dietel’s career in the GDR dictatorship and it did not become any easier for Dietel after the reunification of Germany. In the western “consumer-democracy”, a deep belief in endless growth and styling did not fit his ethics.