Power
MASTERS TO WATCH: VINCENT VAN DEN BERG & JERRY SEVERINS
Owners of Wave Kitchen Products, Vincent van den Berg & Jerry Severins, tell MASTERS more about the company and their wow factor.
In 2003, Wave was the first to introduce a leaf extractor hood, the downdraft: a model that rises from the kitchen worktop and automatically disappears again via a button after cooking. Owners of Wave Kitchen Products, Vincent van den Berg & Jerry Severins, tell MASTERS more about the company and them wow factor. Text: Bart-Jan Brouwer | Online editor: Natasha Hendriks
Image: John van Helvert
Development
Jerry: “I was already active in the interior design sector: I sold kitchens, gave advice, and from that position I regularly needed extractor hoods. That's how I ended up at Wave, which was then Vincent's parents' company. In 2007 they had a vacancy for account manager West Netherlands and I applied for that. At that time, Wave mainly imported extractor hoods from Italy. Once I was settled within the company, I started designing products myself.” Vincent: “I joined four years earlier and became half owner in 2011. The other half was owned by my parents until Jerry took over those shares. In the seventeen years that I have been in the company, the extractor hood has undergone enormous development. Grandma used to have a closed kitchen: an ugly space that had to be concealed behind a door. That was the time of the traditional extractor hood. Later the walls had to be removed and the kitchen and living room became one whole, nice and open. The consumer wanted to cook on an island. But what should you do with the extractor hood? No one wanted such an ugly device in the center of view. ”
Fashionkap
Vincent: “Innovation is in the DNA of our company: we want to be at the forefront of technology, design and materials. Once the big brands follow us, we will take another step forward with the next new development. After the leaf extractor hood, the ceiling units followed. For a while they made up three quarters of our turnover, until they trickled down to the middle segment. At a certain point we felt that the extractor hood should not be hidden in the kitchen worktop or ceiling, but should be above the island. Then it had to be a piece of furniture. In 2014 we came up with a designer lamp in which the extractor hood is integrated. We are continuously looking for the difference. That is what the Wave brand stands for. Our most recent design is the Frame: a steel rack that can be attached to both the ceiling and the wall. This extraction unit is supplied with lighting as standard, but anything is possible. We have promoted the old-fashioned extractor hood into a timeless fashion hood, a special piece of design finished with leather or wood, for example.” Jerry: “We no longer want to hide the extractor hood, we want to add something to the kitchen. If a product is beautiful, you are proud to show it.” Vincent: “We no longer think in terms of devices. Our extractor hood is a piece of furniture that has the added benefit of extracting dirty air.”
Head Start
Vincent: “Where is this development going? In the sixteen years that I have been doing this, I always get to the point where I think: what are we going to do next? And every time we come up with something new. With the Frame we will have an advantage over the major kitchen manufacturers in the next two years. No idea what comes next. But by the time the Frame becomes commonplace, we will certainly have another novelty.” Jerry: “Not only the design, but also the technology has made enormous progress. In the past, odors were extracted outside, but nowadays there is recirculation: the extractor hood filters the air in your kitchen and blows it cleanly back into the room. The plasma filter we use can continue to function for twelve to fifteen years. This is a catalyst that breaks down all odor molecules, from fish and meat to fats. There is nothing better. The fact that we are no longer tied to a channel that has to go outside gives us enormous freedom in design. Otherwise we would never have achieved that success. And technology continues to change, just think of lighting, home automation…” Vincent: “One of the next developments is that the extractor will switch on automatically if a certain air quality standard is exceeded.”
Wow factor
Jerry: “Anyone can enter our showroom in Zevenhuizen: the consumer, the architect, the stylist, the SieMatics and Poggenpohls of this world... Because we have specialized completely in extractor hoods, we can supply exactly the model that someone has in mind. This can be a standard product but also customized, in terms of color and dimensions. Major manufacturers supply the hood in standard sizes, we also do that to the millimeter. We are known for being able to do anything.” Vincent: “We believe that you should think big: the world. We are currently trading with Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Cyprus and Luxembourg and we are in discussions with India and Russia.” Jerry: “We have done all the international fairs over the years. We get the wow factor pretty quickly. Germany, Canada, Dubai, Oman, Bahrain: everywhere we hear 'we have never seen this before'. But it is not immediately that Wave extractor hoods will be installed everywhere. The base is in place. It will take a bit of pioneering and trying and if everything goes well, you will have another country.” Vincent: “Will we ever expand our range? We already add lighting. Maybe someday a stovetop. No idea where this ends.”Vincent van den Berg & Jerry Severins
Vincent van den Berg & Jerry Severins
Vincent van den Berg & Jerry Severins
