MASTERS TO WATCH: VINCENT VAN DEN BERG & JERRY SEVERINS
- maandag 14 juni 2021
- 12:19
- Door: Natasha Hendriks
In 2003, Wave was the first to introduce a leaf extractor, the downdraft: a model that rises from the kitchen worktop and automatically disappears back into it after cooking via a button. Owners of Wave Kitchen Products, Vincent van den Berg & Jerry Severins, tell MASTERS more about the company and their wow factor. Text: Bart-Jan Brouwer | Online Editor: Natasha Hendriks
Image: John van Helvert
Jerry: "I was already active in interior design: I sold kitchens, gave advice on them, and from that position I regularly needed range hoods. That's how I ended up at Wave, then the company of Vincent's parents. In 2007 they had a vacancy for account manager West Netherlands and I applied for it. At that time, Wave mainly imported cooker hoods from Italy. Once I was settled within the company, I started designing products myself." Vincent: "I had stepped in 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 I've been in the business, the range hood has evolved tremendously. Grandma used to have an enclosed kitchen: an ugly space that had to be hidden behind a door. That was the time of the traditional cooker hood, one of those pull-out cabinets. Later, the walls had to come out and kitchen and living room became one, nice and open. Consumers wanted to cook at an island. But what about the hood? Nobody wanted such an ugly appliance centrally in plain sight. "
Vincent: "That innovation is in the DNA of our company: in the areas of technology, design and materials, we want to be at the forefront. Once the big brands follow us, we take another step forward with the next new development. After the leaf extractor hood, the ceiling units followed. For a while they accounted for three quarters of our sales until they trickled down to the mid-range segment. At a certain point we felt that the extractor should not be hidden away in the kitchen worktop or ceiling, but belonged above the island. Then it had to be a piece of furniture. In 2014, we came up with a designer lamp that integrated the extractor hood. Constantly we are looking for the distinction. That's what the Wave brand stands for. Our most recent design is the Frame: a steel rack that can be attached to both ceiling and wall. This extraction unit comes standard with lighting, but anything is possible. Thus we have promoted the old-fashioned extractor hood to a timeless fashion hood, a special piece of design finished with, for example, leather or wood." Jerry: "We no longer want to hide the hood, we want to add something to the kitchen. If a product is beautiful, you are proud to show it off." Vincent: "We no longer think in appliances. Our hood is a piece of furniture that has the addition of extracting dirty air."
Vincent: "Where this development is going? In the sixteen years I've been doing this, every time I 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 have a head start on the big kitchen manufacturers for the next two years. No idea what comes after that. But by the time the Frame becomes commonplace, we'll definitely have another novelty." Jerry: "Not just the design, the technology has taken off as well. Previously, odors were extracted to the outside, nowadays it's recirculation: the hood filters the air in your kitchen and blows it cleanly back into the room. The plasma filter we use can last twelve to fifteen years. That's a catalyst that demolishes all odor molecules, from fish and meat to fats. There is no 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 keeps changing, just think of lighting, domotics..." Vincent: "One of the next developments is that the extractor automatically turns on when a certain standard of air quality is exceeded."
Jerry: "Anyone can walk into our showroom in Zevenhuizen: the consumer, the architect, the stylist, the SieMatics and Poggenpohls of this world... Because we specialize entirely in range hoods, we can deliver exactly the model someone has in mind. This can be a standard product but also customized, according to color and dimensions. Large manufacturers deliver the hood in standard sizes, we do the same but also to the millimeter. We are known for being able to do everything." Vincent: "We believe that you have to think big: that is, the world. Right now we are doing trade with Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Cyprus and Luxembourg and we are in talks with India and Russia." Jerry: "We've done every international trade show over the years. We get the wow factor pretty quickly. Germany, Canada, Dubai, Oman, Bahrain: everywhere we hear 'we've never seen this before.' But it's not immediately that Wave hoods will be hanging everywhere. The basics are there. It will be a bit of pioneering and trial and error, and if all goes well, you will have another country." Vincent: "Whether we will ever expand our product range? Lighting we already do with it. Maybe one day a cooktop. No idea where this stops. "Vincentvan den Berg & Jerry Severins
Vincent van den Berg & Jerry Severins
Vincent van den Berg & Jerry Severins
© 2024 MASTERS EXPO. All rights reserved.
