Fisher & Paykel: THE SOCIAL KITCHEN 2012

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: FISHER & PAYKEL
Agency: ALT GROUP
Category: Exhibitions & Live Events
Designer: Aaron Edwards (Alt Group)
Designer: Ben Corban (Alt Group)
Photographer: Garth Badger (Garth Badger)
Designer: Dean Poole (Alt Group)
Designer: Zoe Ikin (Alt Group)
Photographer: Toaki Okano (Toaki Okano)
Photographer: David St George (David St George)
Designer: Janson Chau (Alt Group)
Creative Director: Dean Poole (Alt Group)
Designer: Fisher & Paykel Design Team (Fisher & Paykel)
Designer: Kate Cullinane (Alt Group)
Creative Director: Mark Elmore (Fisher & Paykel)

Client Brief Or Objective
The goal was to communicate Fisher & Paykel’s design philosophy to a design-minded audience at Urbis Design Day. The concept was seated in the Fisher and Paykels approach to product design - re-evaluating the kitchen as the social hub in everyday life.

Brief Explanation
A custom 65 metre long concept kitchen was designed and fabricated that allowed guests to experience a linear journey of food by hunting, gathering, storing, preparing, cooking, cooling, cleaning and sharing. Visitors were encouraged to cook their own meal, engage with the company’s products and design team and start a conversation about the role of the kitchen.

Outcome
The event was attended by over 2,500 people in 2012 – building on numbers from the previous year, it has become an annual interaction point between the Fisher and Paykel design team and their customers. Based on the success and feedback from architects and designers in Auckland, the event will be extended on a larger scale in Sydney in 2013 to reach new audiences in Australia and Asia.

Implementation
At every step Guests interacted with Fisher & Paykel designers who wore t-shirts with questions about the experience to prompt conversations about the life lived around the product they designed. This allowed the gathering of insights that will have an impact on future generations of appliance design. 126 questions were compiled into a publication and gifted to guests at the end. All details and elements of the event were designed from the wooden induction cooktop to custom aprons, utensils and plates.