Some of A+A’s favorite kitchen designs come from the German manufacturer SieMatic. They’re modern. They’re functional and precise. And they’re an outright delight to look at. We recently interviewed Hans Henkes, president and CEO of SieMatic Möbelwerke USA, via email:
What’s the SieMatic Forum about? The SieMatic Forum is the company’s in-house event to release new product and invite partners, clients and prospects to an enjoyable atmosphere in which to experience the best in kitchen design. The SieMatic Forum takes place in the company’s factory showroom in late September.
What were the highlights this year? The highlights were to show a comprehensive presentation of the URBAN lifestyle collection. It’s the latest addition to the already established PURE and CLASSIC lifestyle collections. While URBAN was announced and displayed at the IMM Cologne Furniture Fair in January, SieMatic further developed the lifestyle collection and presented a much larger collection of kitchen displays at the SieMatic Forum. At IMM, SieMatic showed two URBAN, two PURE and one CLASSIC. The SieMatic Forum redesigned 10 of the some 30 kitchen displays – five URBAN, four PURE and one CLASSIC were newly designed. These 10 new displays also incorporated the further developed interior accessories in aluminum and wood.
What’s the URBAN kitchen all about? SieMatic’s URBAN lifestyle collection is “influenced by urban themes and trends” – let it be clear that SieMatic’s URBAN collection is NOT only for urban settings. Once can see from the marketing materials – brochures, web site, etc. – that SieMatic presents URBAN in city lofts as well as natural suburban if not country settings. It is all about the individual. The main adjective I use is “unconventional.” URBAN sets out to allow the individual the freedom
Who’s the target market? The target market is broad in demographic – younger, senior, urban-dweller, country-dweller – the key characteristic is to speak to those people who want to exhibit their personal belongings and wares, present their experiences, such as desire to bring nature indoors, e.g. in the herb garden piece (tangent to the countertops).
The intent of its design? The intent of the design is to afford the individual the ability to exhibit personal expressions and wares as stated above. Open drawers, open shelve cabinets and more shelves as well as the herb garden, all tie into this theme of openness.
The inspiration for its design? One could say that the design mimics the current trends of social media in sharing one’s experiences. SieMatic strives to provide high quality design and high quality product but all in an effort to set the trend instead of following it.
What are the materials? URBAN can incorporate all SieMatic’s available finishes, i.e. from the finest wood veneers to lacquer point to high-quality, laser edged laminate which even has wood reproductions that have a tactile texture.
How green is it? Very green. SieMatic is FSC certified and complies with CARB II norms, not to mention all the respective European norms, e.g. E1. SieMatic product can contribute points to LEED certification, depending on the product and material mix, of course.
Price range? Very broad. The SieMatic S29 as a sideboard can start around $15,000 and a full kitchen in the most extravagant wood veneers, stainless steel and lacquers can easily eclipse 6-figures.
Availability in the U.S.? It’s available now in North America. The SieMatic Forum signified the production availability world-wide in the 62 countries where SieMatic is represented by corporate and independent showrooms.
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