EuroCucina

Created in collaboration with the company’s strategic brand partner Alt Group and Milanese architecture practice Calvi Brambilla and Partners, the exhibition, Nature-Ritual, was an expression of the company’s proud New Zealand heritage and affinity for nature. Conceived around the idea that thoughtful design can elevate routines into meaningful rituals, the immersive installation introduced new appliances within a sculptural setting inspired by the elemental landscapes of Aotearoa New Zealand. “Nature-Ritual expresses our belief that the best design is connected to place, shaped by human need and resolved with clarity,” says Daniel Witten-Hannah, CEO of Fisher & Paykel.

Across several loosely delineated rooms, it introduced Fisher & Paykel’s State of the Art collection, with several new product releases demonstrating its advancement of minimalist and integrated appliance aesthetics, from the kitchen to the laundry and wardrobe.

Upon stepping off the pavilion’s busy walkways and into Nature-Ritual, the tempo immediately shifted from high octane to serene. With low intentional lighting, a chorus of birdsong in the background and kawakawa tea steeped on a monumental slab of induction-heated stone, the multi-sensory arrival experience was immediately engaging.

A large-scale photographic installation featuring a densely forested New Zealand scene wrapped the room’s edges, its curved form and vibrant green hues providing a soothing, atmospheric backdrop, and warm materials including tōtara wood cabinetry and slabs of volcanic basalt introduced additional tactility and depth. Both materials are native to New Zealand, and similar gestures continued throughout, including ceramic vessels handmade by New Zealand ceramicist Aaron Scythe and garments by New Zealand fashion designer Claudia Li hanging in the fabric-care zone, commissioned for the exhibition. These notes from home brought character and authenticity to the experience, simultaneously reinforcing Fisher & Paykel’s roots.

Presented within sculptural timber forms as opposed to traditional kitchen environments, the appliances and broader design intent conveyed Fisher & Paykel’s approach to life-centred luxury, which sees design expression, product intelligence and performance coalesce, elevating life in the home. This conceptual approach allowed visitors to discover appliances with a sense of curiosity and ease. For example, in the hero space, an oversized island bench – loosely divided into three zones – spanned the length of the kitchen. On the left, a shallow circular bowl suggested the washing area. At the opposite end, a similar bowl in timber indicated serving and dining, and at the centre, the cooking zone was distilled to a minimal rectangular form.

This space also highlighted the brand’s Minimal Style design evolution. The flagship 30-inch wall oven with steam assist and Series 11 Integrated Column Wine Cabinet with generous storage capacity were both integrated into the timber cabinetry. Elsewhere, the new Contemporary Style wall oven in brushed silver was a deserving focal point, as was the laundry and wardrobe zone. The Minimal Style fabric care cabinet, which redefines garment preservation thanks to steam care and sensing technologies informed by extensive research into food and fibre science, was a standout inclusion.

There was a distinct sense of intrigue and engagement at Fisher & Paykel’s installation – visitors sipped tea while meandering from one zone to the next, ran their fingertips over the rippled tōtara wood and enjoyed conversation around the expansive basalt island benches as if gathering in a friend’s home. This was a refreshing energy to discover at the largest design festival in the world and testament to Fisher & Paykel’s ability to not only conceive of a meaningful offering for a global design audience but deliver on it, too.