New knives, new colours, and an argument about French grammar.
Andrew Bluett-Duncan Director
The trade show
We have arrived, as inevitably as Christmas, Easter and my birthday, at the time of year when the major trade show of the calendar rolls around once again.
And, sure as eggs is eggs, The Exclusively Housewares show turns up regular as clockwork, which is a strange phrase. Partly because one wonders who recalls what clockwork is now and my recollection of clockwork toys is that they were anything but reliable and invariably ran out of steam just when things were getting interesting.
Until this year it’s been our habit (Jeanne, Em and myself) to travel clowder like (we are all three of us cat people) to the show. But this year, as Em has recently moved a little further south, Jeanne and I travelled from Reigate and met her at the venue, the rather beautiful (Grade II listed exhibition centre) Business Design Centre in Islington. It’s a 5 min walk up from Angel.
I love this place and the people in it. It's a great part of London, many of the people exhibiting there I’ve known for over 30 years and it’s a pretty friendly trade.
I come away every year feeling richer for the conversations. Some lead to new opportunities, some end with an agreement to disagree, but all of them add something to the schmilblick.
They all add to the richness of the experience and strengthen, I believe, all the relationships, both longstanding good relationships and the not so good more challenging ones. Paul Spencer (Jeray) and I are a case in point. He runs a very successful business selling mostly “amusing stuff” which for the most part I wouldn’t give house room to. We have a little competition going on, to see if we can remain his smallest customer, and he our smallest supplier. Sadly, neither of us managed it this year. But there’s a tacit agreement that we will both keep trying. The size of the turnover though has no impact on the quality of the relationship, that in this case is probably over 35 years old.
He is, I think, rather fond of me and I certainly am of him. We enjoy each other's company, share a similarly odd sense of humour and, when all is said and done, it's relationships like that which make my world go round.
Ok, to glimpses of some future products
As we walk in, the Grunwerg stand is always on the left on the lower ground floor and John Day had a new Global BBQ knife to show us. Looking rather as a jungle hacking machete might, this menacing knife with an RRP of £150, was being offered at a reduced price of £100, and for an additional £99.00 you could buy with it, a large chopping board and a pair of leather gloves more at home in a foundry than a the garden BBQ. But there was no doubt that this was a lot of gear for your money.
So we ordered them there and then and they have already arrived with us.
To tempt you further, this week we'll give you a further 15% discount bringing it down to £169.15 for the set, or the knife on its own for £85.
Moving on to the main ground floor area, Zwilling are always first, because, being a creature of habit I always work my way round any exhibition in a sort of clockwise direction, and for as far back as I can recall they have been on stand 202.
Here, after a quick chat with Matthew (UK MD), Paul showed us a sample of Zwilling’s answer to HexClad*. A novel approach to keep the non stick coating on the pan and not in the food, and they were sensibly using ceramic coating, so probably as safe, chemically, as you can get. They also had a very neat and secure removable handle range of pots and pans which I thought had real mileage.
*The popular ceramic non stick brand of pans notable for their use of a raised stainless patterned profile that protects the coating and being fronted by sweary celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey
Next up was Le Creuset, and our appointment with Tara our account manager who took us through a bevvy of new product from this highly creative firm. There’s a new green in a matt finish called Foret (Foray). If I learnt anything at school it was that in French, firstly if it finished in an ‘e’ then it was feminine, and secondly, the presence of an 'e' at the end meant you pronounced the letter before it, hence Foray and Forest. Apparently, according to Babette, the connection between 'e' and gender is complete nonsense. This merely reinforced my long-held suspicion that much of what I learned at school was wrong. Notwithstanding, the new colour is attractive, as are the contrasting colours they’ve put with it. This arrives in September I think.
Paul Shelley at Haus had some lovely Teak End grain chopping boards, from quite reasonable to quite hairy prices, Nick Cornwell had Black and Blum’s extended range of glass food boxes to compliment their stainless steel range, which are a great idea I think, along with a larger Duo Flask.
I'm a big fan of the CrushGrind's mills that blend high quality design, and precision mechanisms. We already stock their colourful wooden Bergen Salt and Pepper mills, so I was pleased to discover their new semi-organic bodied Salt and Pepper mills. Hopefully we'll be able to stock them in the next month.
On RKW’s stand, Darren showed us his mini Fish Gluggle Jugs and new colours in the standard sizes as well. Bryony Dyer at Dexam, had a new colour in the lovely Sintra Terracotta range called Berry.
And lastly, on KitchenCraft there was an eclectic mix of new stuff that Jayne showed us and both Jeanne and Em became quite animated by. Namely, Ramen bowls with chop sticks, Sushi mats, a Tortilla Press, even a Taco holder, none of which float my boat. Apparently I’m out of touch (you may guess how I know this).
Jeanne and Em also went on the Bialetti stand. This is a brand we've been meaning for years to add to our portfolio… lets hope this time it makes it in!
A lovely new range of mugs from CKS... Coming soon!
On the second day, we concentrated most of our efforts on the first floor gallery. And came across my friends Nick and Laura Squire (recently ex Dayes) and their business partner Tim Owrid who recently bought Nimbus, the importers of Falcon Blue and White enamel. This we've stocked for the last 10 years or so and sell loads of it because of its quality, price and practicality. They have introduced some very good range extensions along with some perfectly hideous stuff with highland cattle on. I found that they rather remind me of Richard Walker's (Eddingtons) sample he sent me the other day of my beloved Epicurean Chopping Boards, disfigured with pictures of lobsters and flowers……"yuk to them all" say I.
Lastly on the Beam stand Chris Mobley showed us a new and rather smart take by KitchenAid on their stand mixer, and whilst there, we discussed the newish Ooni stand mixer and very advanced Tappwater Filter system, all three of which he’s bringing us samples of to try out.
Conclusion
It was a lovely show, as it nearly always is. Inspiring, full of friendly enthusiasts who genuinely care about their trade and the products they're selling.
The products themselves matter of course. Some of those mentioned above will doubtless find their way into our shops and website over the coming months and some may not. But if there's one thing I get from these exhibitions year after year, it isn't a particular pan, chopping board or kettle.
It's the people.
Its 41 years since I first went to a trade fair at the NEC as the sole representative of a tiny business in Reigate high street. Forty one years on, I still find myself looking forward to seeing old friends, on the odd occasion, I even tolerate meeting new ones, and certainly the exchange of ideas, opinions and occasionally disagreements that collectively make for such a rich experience. In an increasingly impersonal world, that’s text and zoom based, I count myself fortunate to work in a trade where face to face relationships still matter.
In fact, in our trade, they matter a lot.
And that, more than any new product launch, is what keeps me coming back.
"Time for bed, said Pooh". Your intrepid trio heading home after another day foraging for the best cookware in the land.
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