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Davy Swanenberg: 'We designed the most expensive kitchen in the world'

Davy Swanenberg groeide op in het Brabantse Berlicum, waar vandaag de dag Culimaat nog steeds floreert dat hij samen met zijn broer Twan runt. Ze namen de zaak over van hun vader en tillen keukens keer op keer naar het hoogste niveau: oog voor detail, authentieke vormgeving en passie voor vakmanschap. Voor Davy was het niet zo voor de hand liggend om het familiebedrijf in te gaan. Een gevalletje van: ‘erin gerold’. Maar wie gaf Davy dit zetje? Wie was zijn kruiwagen?

What kept you busy in the past?

"During my high school years, I was a drummer in a band and also drew a lot of fantasy stories. At eighteen I got to the point where I had to think about what I was going to do after graduation: make music or study? I chose to study marketing and economics, which was totally not my cup of tea, but this seemed like a 'stable' foundation for my future career."

How did you end up in your current job?

"In 1985 my father founded Culimaat and at the age of 24 I entered the company. This was not a 'logical' step for me, but I really got into it. Because I loved drawing, I helped out in the design department every Saturday and at some point I started drawing more and more. That's how I ended up at Culimaat. As a twenty-something, I didn't really have anything to do with leadership and business; I just wanted to be involved in the creative part. Nevertheless, together with Twan, I took over the company from my father in 2006.

I felt it was important to keep myself more in the background, because around us we saw the challenges that family businesses can bring. I only have one brother in life, so of course I cherish this bond immensely... That was my motto. As the years passed, I moved more and more to the forefront. Twan is from sales and sales design and I focus on the creative and innovative side of the business. We hired a director to run the business overall."

You indicate that you had no immediate intention of becoming an entrepreneur. Has entrepreneurship ever disappointed you?

"No, in all these years it has never disappointed me, it has actually pleasantly surprised me. Because I can still express my creativity and work with a nice team, I'm never bored. In addition, I could always still do what I enjoyed besides the business: making music."

Who was your wheelbarrow?

"My father has been my wheelbarrow throughout my career. When Twan and I were 12 years old our father took us to trade shows at home and abroad, through this we learned a thing or two about the industry and design at an early age. Because of my father, I particularly developed a weakness for Italian design. The refined and sublime eye that I have developed for this design, I certainly inherited from my father. My father started Culimaat with custom kitchens, my brother and I built the company into Italian kitchens and custom kitchens starting in 1992." 

What icon would you like to design another kitchen for?

"For Queen Máxima! I would design a distinct kitchen. When I look at her clothing style, I see a woman with an authentic, classic style of her own. I would translate this into my own design."

You are on the jury of the renowned international World Kitchen Design Contest, having won the award in 2013. What do you notice about the differences in culture and kitchen design?

"Asian cuisine is similar to European cuisine: refined, subtle and elegant. If we cross the ocean and look at American kitchens, you see a totally different picture: much more colossal, the use of different materials mixed together and to be honest, in my opinion, just 'not there'."

What is your greatest passion in your profession?

"The fun and interesting thing about my profession is I find innovation. I think it's super to invent and then design new things. For example, Culimaat worked with Hoog Design to design the most expensive kitchen in the world, the Equinox. We move into the highest segment and with this kitchen we want to see if we can 'just' sell the Equinox for a million over the Internet. So how does that work? The kitchen is offered over the Internet and you pay for it at the click of a button via iDeal. The plan is to sell Equinox not only in the Dutch market, but also worldwide in a year and a half. And we have several more of these kinds of innovative ideas."

What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?

"At the time it wasn't there yet, but then I would have said to myself: go to Rock School. As I told you, I chose to study marketing, but of course I only did this to have something behind it. In the end, I didn't get much out of the chosen study and would have been better off doing a study that better highlighted one of my passions."

Have you been a wheelbarrow for anyone?

"A specific wheelbarrow I am not, but I try to guide and help my team, both interns and colleagues, throughout the creative design process."