The VDID is an association of German designers founded to promote the exchange of knowledge, ideas, professionalism, friendship, and support to all members to assist in the everyday working environment and career of industrial designers.
The VDID works as a mediator between industry and designers, as well as politics and the economy.
Seven professional industrial designers that later were referred to in publications and in the media as the "7", joined together to found the VDID in 1959.
These seven designers are Professor Arno Votteler, Professor Hans Erich Slany, Hans-Theo Baumann,[3][4] Herbert Hirche,[5] (de)Günter Kupetz, Rainer Schütze, and (de)Peter Raacke.
They believed that designers needed an association to promote professional advocacy, support them in both legal and educational issues, and to represent the profession to the public.