THE WORK
British
design
triumphs
Words by Rome Jorge
95
It’s ready for anything. It can knead
the thickest of doughs and fold the
most delicate of soufflés. Its amazing motor has even enough power to
tow a Mini Cooper Clubman—weighing more than 1.2 tons—stuffed with
four burly guys.
Kenwood, the iconic British brand
of kitchen appliances, returns to
the Philippines, supported no less
than heavyweights such as British ambassador to the Philippines
Asif Ahmad, De’Longhi Kenwood’s
international commercial director
Paul Accornero, and Robert Colombo, president of Colombo Merchant
Philippines, exclusive distributor of
Kenwood in the Philippines—all of
whom found a way to fit in the car
pulled Kenwood’s Titanium Major
Mixer at a world’s first event at ambassador Ahmad’s Manila residence
on July 21.
Taste tested
Also on hand at the event were Kenwood’s Development Chef Martin
Johns who, together with ambassador Ahmad, demonstrated the use
of Kenwood’s Titanium Major Mixer
to create culinary treats such as
vanilla gelato with liquid nitrogen.
For the event, Kenwood armed the
top local culinary schools—Center
for Culinary Arts, Enderun Colleges,
and Southville International School
Affiliated with Foreign Universities—
with the Titanium Major Mixer and
challenged each one to create recipes that fused British and Filipino
culinary traditions using one of the
mixer’s more than 20 attachments.
Modern classic
Present as well was Darren Mullen,
Kenwood’s industrial design leader,
who put into words what Kenwood
products speak for themselves:
cutting edge contemporary British industrial design specifically
styled and crafted as timeless and
ever-dependable heirlooms at par
with other iconic British designs
such as the Mini Cooper, the Dyson
Cool, the Routemaster double decker bus, and The Gherkin building.
Kenwood products have reaped the
Red Dot award for product design
in 2015 for the Multi One Kitchen
Machine, the iF gold award in 2016
for Chef XL Titanium, and the Plus
X hall of fame award in 2014 for the
Chef Titanium.
History making
Not to be confused with the Japanese audio equipment manufacturer, Kenwood’s pedigree comes
from Kenneth Maynard Wood, who
in 1947, began manufacturing the
A100—the first turnover toaster in
Europe. In 1950, he unveiled the
Kenwood Chef Kitchen. In less
than a week of its debut, Wood’s
groundbreaking mixer with multiple attachments was sold out at
Harrods. In 1960, Wood commissioned legendary industrial designer
Sir Kenneth Grange to redesign the
Kenwood Chef Kitchen, making it
even more appealing. In 2001, after
having expanded to over 80 countries worldwide, Kenwood joined its
former rival De’Longhi of Italy, which
then acquired German kitchen appliance maker Braun the following
year, thus unifying three European
brands. At the event at Manila,
Kenwood presented a range of
products that included the Triblade
Hand Blenders, kMix Stand Mixers,
kMix Toasters, and the acclaimed
Titanium Major Mixer.
July - August 2016 | adobo magazine