by Jasmin Jouhar, 02/03/2011
This story starts with a new wall unit for the kitchen. Everything that was open before disappears behind closed fronts. Suddenly this overview! The only thing left behind is the kettle. But all alone, as it now stands on a wide plate, I realize: It won't work anymore. The actual vessel is made of bright stainless steel, after all, but the rest ... the plastic lid and handle stick to the pot like a bulge. The white plastic has yellowed from lime after all these years. A gush of boiling water spills over every time the pot is poured. And on the base is written unmistakably Petra. It is decided: Petra has had its day, something better is needed. But as easy as this story started, it unfortunately doesn't go on.
Because where Petra once came from, there is hardly any replacement to be found: It's lined up in the electronics store, the parade of horrors. One stolid pot next to the other, with handles so thick that even an elephant could probably handle them. Protruding pedestals signal: I'm sure nothing will knock me over in a hurry. The only difference to Petra: Viewing windows, scales, displays and blown-up silhouettes like from car design make the current kettles even uglier than their predecessors. Only in the segment below ten euros can plain models still be found. At the price of the suspicion that such cheap devices neither last long nor were produced under justifiable conditions.
On the run towards the exit, I pass shelves with toasters, hand blenders, hair dryers, razors: LEDs flash at me, metallic plastic dazzles me, colorful rubber nubs want to be touched. Back home, over a cup of tea prepared with the help of Petra, the question: Why? Why are the little helpers for the household so talkative, so intrusive, in short: so unsightly? And this in a country that was once one of the design and technical pioneers with Braun electrical appliances. Today, however, the prevailing product language, unfortunately also at Braun, seems to be content with styling - in other words, with an aesthetic treatment of the exterior rather than a conceptual "design" of the entire appliance that combines functional and aesthetic aspects.
Fashionable design
Oliver Grabes, Braun's chief designer since the end of 2009, confirms the styling suspicion: "In recent years, many manufacturers have tried to enhance the sometimes quite simple functionality of kitchen appliances with fashionable design or special "features" - partly because many consumers are willing to pay more money for them. However, I believe that a change is taking place here and that people are increasingly looking for products that are technically as well as visually convincing and of high quality." In addition, he says, the cost of design is rather low compared to research, technology and product. Part of Grabe's strategy is to rely more on the company's "tradition": "Braun has a very strong design history, which was shaped by many very good designers and which had a great influence on the development of the brand. We want to build on this again and make it visible in the design. Functionalism, quality and aesthetics are old, familiar values that we want to translate into today's environment for the Braun brand."
All are equal
Jerszy Seymour, Canadian designer based in Berlin, has had his share of experience designing small electronics. He was commissioned by the French manufacturer Moulinex to develop a hair dryer for the lower price segment. However, when 20,000 units had already been produced, the management decided that Moulinex should continue to limit itself to the kitchen sector. The entire production of the hair dryer was destroyed. Sustainability is a different story. The Moulinex case is exemplary for the industry in that the brand is not independent, but belongs to the French group Groupe SEB along with Rowenta, Tefal and numerous others. SEB is, among other things, the world market leader in electric kettles. Seymour criticizes that the large corporations often produced in low-wage countries with backward technology and exploited the workers there.
The globalized organization of industry also has an impact on the technology and design of appliances: in the case of kettles, for example, it is the case that only two or three suppliers around the world manufacture the heating elements for the appliances, Seymour says. And only two companies test the prototypes for safety. "That's why, ultimately, all kettles are the same. It works the same way as in the computer industry." In principle, he says, the devices are not bad technically. However, the general standardization leaves little room for maneuver: "If you try to do something differently, it quickly becomes very expensive," says Seymour. It's only worth it if it involves a fundamental typological change, as in the development of concealed heating elements in kettles.
In the realm of plastic pots
After the failure in the electronics store, the next procurement attempt: on the Internet. I fall in love a new model from Rowenta called BV 7011, designed by the French design studio Elium Studio. The body of the stove is meant to resemble a pot and is made of - watch out! - white porcelain. Together with the gray rubber lid and stainless steel base, an unusual appearance in the realm of plastic pots. Barely purchased, the ceramic stove blows a fuse: With a flash and a bang, it stops working after six weeks. On the way back from Rowenta's customer service, the porcelain body broke. Rowenta is unable to find a new copy of the BV 7011 and credits the purchase price.
That there should be no replacement for what is actually a new model makes me wonder. But designer Gilles Caillet of Elium Studio doesn't want to comment and refers me to SEB, the owner of Rowenta. When I ask SEB Germany why the BV 7011 is no longer available, they remain vague: They were only able to find out from their French colleagues "that there were probably quality problems". This makes me wonder, as the story seems familiar to me: A few years ago, Rowenta launched a beautiful and contemporary-looking line of kitchen appliances by Jasper Morrison. The white toasters, coffee makers and kettles quickly advanced to must have for the design conscious. And almost as quickly one heard of blown fuses and the like. Jasper Morrison has long warned about the devices on his website: "Reports received on malfunctioning products. Buyers beware!" The series has long been discontinued.
Hot-boiled, soft-boiled
Next try: word of mouth. A colleague also got herself a new kettle a while back: Hot.it, designed by Dutch architect Wiel Arets for Alessi. The Italian company stands for products with a certain design appeal - with success, because the manageable range of household appliances sells well. I find the electric kettle with its tall, slim body and the complete absence of frippery very acceptable. However, my colleague had to exchange her first one within a short time because the lid's locking mechanism failed. The mechanism didn't work properly on number two either, but she resigned herself to her fate. After all, Hot.it actually makes water hot and also looks good in her kitchen.
I, too, am now ready for anything - squeaky-colorful appliances from Bodum with the brand name on a large surface or testosterone-steeled high-tech kettles from Siemens/ Porsche Design have cooked me soft. I can't warm up to the noble variant from Jacob Jensen either: Brushed stainless steel is just a design cliché to me. So, for not so little money, I actually buy a device that I know will probably have flaws. It comes as it must: After three uses, the cap on my Hot.it specimen doesn't work properly either. But the water gets hot much faster than with Petra, and it is also quieter. Another colleague takes an example and also buys the Alessi stove. So far, the closure has worked flawlessly for her - but she only operates the button with great care. All's well that ends well, right?
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