Braun GmbH ( "brown"; ) is a German consumer products company founded in 1921 and based in Kronberg im Taunus. The company is particularly well known for its industrial product design from the mid-20th century which included electric shavers and record players. From 1984 until 2007, Braun was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Gillette Company, which had purchased a controlling interest in the company in 1967. Braun is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Procter & Gamble, which acquired Gillette in 2005. History In 1921, (1890–1951), a mechanical engineer, established a small engineering shop in Frankfurt, Germany. In 1923, he began producing components for radio sets. By 1928, the company had grown to such an extent, partly due to the use of certain plastic materials, that it moved to new premises on Idsteiner Strasse. In 1929, eight years after he started his shop, Max Braun began to manufacture entire radio sets. Soon after, Braun became one of Germany's leading radio manufacturers. This development continued with the launch of one of the first combined radio and record players in 1932. In 1935, the Braun brand was introduced, and the original incarnation of the logotype with the raised "A" was born. At the 1937 World's Fair in Paris, Max Braun received the award For special achievements in phonography. During World War II, Braun was compelled to more or less abandon products for the civilian sector. In 1944, the Frankfurt factories were almost entirely destroyed, and Max Braun began to rebuild his company. After the war, Braun continued to produce state-of-the art radios and audio equipment, and the company soon became well known for its "high-fidelity" audio and record players, including the famous SK line. Braun was the only foreign licensee of the QUAD electrostatic loudspeaker for a time. In 1954, the company also began producing film slide projectors, a mainstay of its business for the next forty years. By 1956, Braun was marketing the first fully automatic tray film slide projector, the PA 1. Braun AG slide projectors all utilized a linear or straight tray as opposed to a round-tray design, which allowed the projector to remain small and compact. The 1950s also marked the beginning of the product that Braun is most known for today: the electric shaver. The S 50 was the first electric shaver from Braun. The shaver was designed in 1938, but World War II delayed its