Originally a blacksmith’s workshop, the company switched to bakelite office products in the 1920s. Much later it became a design-led business using a new generation of thermoplastics. In 1961, the founder’s grandson Hansfriedrich Hefendehl took command and changed course. Like Braun a decade earlier, he cultivated contacts with the Ulm Academy of Design. Walter Zeischegg, who taught product design and geometry, became a permanent consultant to the company. An advocate of systematic design, he helped Helit to develop some 70 products – right up into the 1980s. Zeischegg-inspired products that became familiar worldwide during that era include the hexagonal desktop pen container and the stackable “wave ashtray” Sinus. For a long time it was these classics that put the Westphalian company on the map. In the early 1990s the American Gillette group bought out the family business, having already acquired the German design brand Braun. But the Americans soon sold it on, and Helit now belongs to Maped, a leading French maker of school and office products. Since the end of the 1990s the expanding manufacturer has joined the ranks of those putting their cards on designer branding and it now associates its high-end products with interior design ideas. Wulf Schneider, for instance, has authored Helit’s intelligent presentation systems. One of the latest creations comes from England’s star architect Norman Foster, who has contributed a complete line of desktop utensils. Whether the note box, holepunch, clock or tape dispenser, on the desk Foster’s box-like shapes give the impression of monolithic building blocks. For zanier objects Helit has brought in the Italian Stefano Giovannoni. His little colourful items for office or home – like the magnetic cactus to which paper clips cling, or the see-through hollow fox terrier for holding pens – remind us that work can be fun.