Fisher & Paykel's Auckland Experience Centre celebrates New Zealand design
Promotion: in the creation of its Auckland Experience Centre, Fisher & Paykel collaborated with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, a Māori iwi (tribal organisation), to define the building's cultural narratives.
The luxury appliance brand explained that its Experience Centre is a manifestation of its New Zealand identity and demonstrates the potential of its appliance solutions in a series of bespoke environments.
Auckland is one of seven global Fisher & Paykel Experience Centres, with others in London, New York, Costa Mesa, Melbourne, Sydney and Toronto.
Each showcases the brand's approach to "kitchen perfection" via architectural interiors that are grounded in region-specific aesthetics and cultural influences.
Across each location – including Auckland – Fisher & Paykel has also partnered with local design talents and has developed each centre primarily as a resource for the greater design and specifier community.
Recognising the need for complete design freedom in modern interiors, Fisher & Paykel has, through its decades-long history of collaboration with architects and designers, developed appliance solutions for seamless integration into contemporary kitchens.
In its Auckland centre, the company collaborated with strategic brand partner Alt Group and architecture practice Knight Associates to give form to the cultural narratives developed with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.
According to Fisher & Paykel, this has resulted in an evocative design language "inspired by nature and grounded in the concepts of elemental nature and raw sophistication".
The centre is a celebration of materials native to Auckland. Upon arrival, visitors are offered kawakawa tea, a native plant with medicinal properties.
Warmed on an induction hob concealed within a stone plinth, the ritual offers the first "moment of delight" in a sequence of staged environments designed for immersive culinary and fabric care experiences.
The localised materials used in its Auckland Experience Centre include reclaimed floors sourced from a 700-year-old wind-felled tōtara, and plastered walls infused with black sand from the city’s West Coast beaches.
Adding to the luxury of the interior are three distinctive environments designed in collaboration with leading kitchen brands – Boffi, Arclinea and Henrybuilt – which, according to Fisher & Paykel, embody its commitment to "innovation, craftsmanship and tailored design solutions".
Featured at the heart of the experience centre is The Social Kitchen, another collaboration with Italian kitchen designer Arclinea.
It functions as a working kitchen where visitors can experience chef-led Mastery of Temperature culinary demonstrations to gain deeper insights into the performance qualities of the brand's appliances.
Next to the kitchen is a nine-metre-long dining table constructed from 45,000-year-old reclaimed kauri – one of the world's largest trees – and a bespoke wine cellar crafted from tōtara.
Henrybuilt, a US-based company based in Seattle known for its craftsmanship, created the Professional Kitchen as the "epitome of functional sophistication".
According to Fisher & Paykel, the predominantly walnut kitchen was designed to contrast with the high-grade stainless steel finishes of its Professional Style appliances.
Created by designer Norbert Wangen for Boffi, the Boffi Minimal Kitchen was designed to show how the visually recessive aesthetic of Fisher & Paykel's Minimal Style appliances sits quietly in support of visually cohesive minimalist expression.
The centre also includes The Boffi Laundry, a luxury wardrobe and laundry experience space.
Fisher & Paykel explained that The Boffi Laundry illustrates how its advanced fabric care appliances are paving the way for unexpected and new configurations around the home, due to the flexibility of built-in integration.
To learn more about Fisher & Paykel's global Experience Centres, visit its website.
Partnership content
This article was written by Dezeen for Fisher & Paykel as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
The post Fisher & Paykel's Auckland Experience Centre celebrates New Zealand design appeared first on Dezeen.
