So small appliances change

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2032

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Aesthetical solutions coupled with technical performances. Hotpoint-Ariston challenges the market in this way, staking on the strong identity of a product family that matches the technological evolution with the forefront style by Makio Hasuike.

 

IDEA

Gamma food HD line piccoli elettrodomestici-Hotpoint Ariston-2013In 2014, the historical collaboration between the giant Indesit and Studio Makio Hasuike &Co gives birth to the idea of the first Hotpoint – Ariston collection of small appliances for the kitchen and the house. A new challenge for the company, strongly willing to make a step forward in terms of quality in comparison with its competitors, and to rank in the high-end market range, with products conceived to satisfy the requirements of medium-high level consumers.

The aim is to create contemporaneous products, recognizable as a homogeneous group and grouped under the same stylistic project, with the possibility of widening the range and performing all useful functions to take care of the home.

Makio Hasuike is entrusted with the task of designing the line of these appliances, combining excellent performances and style, functional design and quality in details. As he in person tells: “The new small appliances were not only expected to perform simply and strictly their function but also to give moral and aesthetical satisfaction and value in general.

They had to become, in other words, a family of instruments/accessories with which to live together at home as much and as happily as possible, in the meantime suiting the most advanced technological innovations to achieve results in “High Definition” in compliance with corporate manufacturing processes”.

 

 

CONCEPT

HD Line Digital Kettle - sketch 1 - Horpoint Ariston-2013“Relying on a recognizable image, providing for functional mechanisms, giving an aesthetical sense that expresses the project value while highlighting its existence in the context in not trivial way –  tells Makio Hasuike – is the concept at the base of our design project for Hotpoint- Ariston HD Line small appliances”.

For this appointment, the studio adopts a new design approach and reverses the phases of the traditional development, starting from objects first imagined, also in materials, and only successively adapted to the technological reality to reach results in “High Definition” and an adequate industrialization process. As the designer explains: “Their mission was not merely to be a line of design objects but instead work instruments able to express their presence inside whatever environment”.

Concerning this, the most significant item is the kettle (Digital Kettle), both due to the application of the new design method, which has reached a fully satisfactory result, and because focus of higher aesthetical and technical care. “ In the first imaginative phase we were called to implement – says the designer – an object emanating pleasantness as well as value, expressing its existence in decisive and strong manner and, after all, able to live in several contexts. Several products of this group are dedicated to cooking preparations while the Digital Kettle, besides warming water, had to be much closer to a pleasant moment. In other words, it was not only expected to execute a task but also to accompany the moments of the day”.

 

MATERIALS AND PRODUCTION

HD Line Digital Kettle 1- Horpoint Ariston-2013The target of the HD Line project consisted in creating design objects featuring a quite high level but not merely consisting of aesthetics. According to this vision, the choice of stainless steel for the entire line shared in highlighting the innovative aspects of their functions, as work instruments, too.

On the Digital Kettle, the steel “dress” has strongly influenced the final result. The brushed finish, unlike the polished one, provides a more pleasant visual effect if used horizontally. Its orientation has therefore suggested embracing the kettle body with two rectangular curved sheets resulting in an initially squared item, surprisingly sophisticated and at the same time technical. The main materials used in the HD Line are the brushed steel and glass, but also the polished metal played a fundamental role in the Digital Kettle composition. Without it, in fact, it would have been difficult to solve the assembly, with the black opaque plastic moulded part. Precisely this mix of materials has given a particular aesthetical richness and a better definition of details to products.

 

 

ENGINEERING

HD Line Digital Kettle - 3D 3 - Horpoint Ariston-2013The choice of integrating the most advanced and innovative technologies into the elements of the HD Line family has imposed a simultaneous work with the stylistic one, to achieve their correct operation without giving up the formal specificities established in the image and material choice phase.

“In this third stage – says Makio Hasuike -, where the concept had to become reality, we were aware of meeting big problems. We faced the research of the engineering and mechanical part with the technical office for six months, not without complications, with the common purpose of not ruining what the company had approved in the first stage. In the case of the Digital Kettle we managed it with satisfaction and conviction but we were compelled to change some details”.

The heating base, which is also the component of highest complexity of the piece, was initially devised with a square shape, like the kettle. Once discovered that the heating disk could not be round, we corrected the design, together with the jug’s.  While revising the circular shape proved to be more functional for placing the jug on the 360°-rotary base, in the top part of the appliance we opted instead for maintaining a more squared and slightly curved line.

The difference between top and bottom created a quite expressive configuration, to be anyway further arranged in its correct operation to set the temperatures of water heating and maintenance. The entire technological research of the appliance focused on the base.

Digital Kettle is the first electrical kettle with display with electronic control integrated into the heating plan. A digital keyboard and an electronic device are integrated into the base and they control the functions. For the first time, the absence of complexity of the electric wiring in the jug enables the handle to house an ergonomic key that permits to hold and to open it with a single gesture, becoming a real object for the table.

The execution of the HD Line project lasted one year and a half. Not so much, if we consider that it is a large family: the first 3-4 months were dedicated to the design of the unitary image, six months were necessary to satisfy and to complete the pieces with engineering and the remaining time was taken by the product industrialization. Naturally, during the entire development period the design was a factor of constant assessment and control to grant a consistent result up to the product implementation.

 

OPERATION AND FINAL RESULTS

Thought for an international consumer (UK), the Digital Kettle was expected to satisfy the need of preparing hot drinks, teas and infusions correctly. In other words, it had to offer a surprising and enduring tasting experience, since not only it heated water quickly but also it allowed the precise setting of temperatures and their preservation. The kettle turns out to be a very user-friendly appliance, for domestic use, but complying with the requirements of an office, too. With a power of a good 2400 Watts, thanks to which it can prepare ideal beverages in very short time, it heats water quickly and at the right temperature.

The electronic control technology equipping it allows setting 6 different temperature levels (from 50 °C to 100 °C) that can be controlled in digital manner through the display; in this way the infusion temperature suits the type of infusion that we want to obtain. In particular, to prepare a good tea, we need different degrees, depending on the quality (the green tea, for instance, should be prepared at 70 °C, otherwise it loses much of its aroma, while the black tea completes its infusion at 90 °C and so on).

Among the numerous and interesting characteristics of the digital kettle, there is a tank containing a good 1.7 litres and permitting to obtain such a quantity of drink that we never miss it, both at home and at the office. A filter removes all traces of limestone, thus obtaining a water without fixed residues while, as already said, the ergonomic opening button allows holding and opening the kettle with a single gesture.

The kettle has a level indicator on the back to dose the right quantity of water according to the number of cups we want to obtain and is equipped with a comfortable 360°-rotary basis that facilitates the action of lifting and positioning the jug. The base with electronic digital-control display has various controls: the key to select the temperature; the key Keep warm that keeps water at the desired temperature for the maximum duration of one hour and the boiling key for a pre-boiling, useful to reach and to maintain boiling for one minute, making water more pleasant, after eliminating impurities.

Currently the HD Line family counts 14 elements subdivided by function between Food and Home, which enrich the domestic scenario with high-quality performances and details and the elegant and refined style of stainless steel for the entire range.