Leading edge
This year, for the first time, Fisher & Paykel took its design innovation – including a suite of new products – to EuroCucina, the world’s biggest kitchen fair.
Fisher & Paykel took more than new products to its stand at EuroCucina, the world’s biggest kitchen fair and part of Milan Design Week: it also took a group of its New Zealand-based designers to tell the story. “Designers and architects are a significant audience for us globally,” says Fisher & Paykel general manager of design, Mark Elmore. “It gave us the opportunity to showcase our unique New Zealand-inspired design story on a global stage.” Why this year? For us it’s perfect timing – we’re in the process of launching appliances such as Column Refrigeration, Companion Cooking products and our Integrated Insert Rangehood, which have all been developed in close consultation with the design community. As well as hosting designers from Australasia, North America and Asia, we’ve made new connections with premium designers and specifiers in the European design community. Why is the New Zealand design story so important for you? New Zealand is at the heart of our heritage and design philosophy and our provenance is something totally unique in the appliance world – it’s something we’re immensely proud of. It’s a perspective that customers outside New Zealand really want to hear about. What did you learn? The European customers are really responsive to our brand story and product portfolio and this has really reinforced that we’re on the right track. As New Zealand designers with a unique perspective, this builds the confidence to continue taking our design solutions to the world. Also, there are more than 500 satellite events that take place across Milan, so across the team we gained lots of new perspectives and insights. It seems like kitchens are increasingly presented as furniture. This trend is driven by the kitchen and living room in a single space – it’s shared, so designers and architects want a more uniform, liveable, high-quality design solution. What material trends did you notice? Richness in materials, texture, colour, warmth. Lots of darker, deeper timber, and texture – showing the grain, dark-tinted stainless steel, copper, brass and stone. It’s very much a move to a softer, more natural feel. There was also marble everywhere. That’s playing to luxury but also quality and longevity. What’s coming next from Fisher & Paykel? We’re particularly excited about our Column products launching this year. They are a range of refrigerators and freezers that provide true personalisation with independent variable temperature zones, as well as the ability to mix and match different sized columns together or separately. It’s next-level design freedom, with seamless integration options. Mark Elmore joins HOME to judge our Design Awards in August – see p.158 for details on how to enter.
Top and above The hero kitchen on Fisher & Paykel’s Eurocucina stand, featuring integrated Column Refrigeration and an Atlantic honed granite countertop with a series of flush fitted cooktops; Mark Elmore, Fisher & Paykel’s general manager of design, discusses the brand’s new range.