Trade Show Highlights & Home Truths

Earlier this week Em, Jeanne and I went up to London to the Exclusively Housewares trade show, held at The Camden Business Centre, a five minute walk from Angel tube station. It was both hugely enjoyable and also pretty knackering.

Why was it so enjoyable?

Well, it’s a wonderful assault on the eye, which if you’re a kitchen equipment nerd, like us, never disappoints; loads of new stuff mixed in with the more prosaic.

And this time, I’m rather pleased to say that four people brought up the subject of ‘hope’, that I wrote about in last week's newsletter, and that, as you might imagine, gave me great pleasure. I received comments such as ‘you are a part of my Saturday morning routine’ to deep conversations about what the flip side of ‘hope’ meant to them, at this point in their lives.  

So, my thanks to Nick C, Theresa, Nick S and Bryony, with all of whom I had interesting conversations of some depth, on subjects various, mostly not about kitchenwares!

And on this subject, may I ask, the next time I write something that interrogates you in some way, that you either leave a comment on the blog version (here) or send me an email. I do love getting both positive feedback and discussing points of difference.

So, for instance, if you’re not a tree hugging, granola eating, wishy washy liberal individual like me, you could well have a different point of view.  And I enjoy reading both affirming responses and those who disagree partially or completely.  

It’s how I learn. So, don’t hold back in polite British good manners. Let rip occasionally!

Exclusively Housewares

When we got there, I’d already managed to spill coffee down my shirt in struggling to get onto the tube which had wanted to close its doors on me. Of course, being in the company of two highly capable women, with the aid of water and some tissues they soon had me cleaned up and presentable again. Indeed, by dint of a brisk march down Islington High Street to the Camden Business Centre, I was almost dry by the time we got there!

One of the first stands we went on, was a company called Aarke who had some beautifully designed coffee making equipment in the form of a filter coffee maker, with a grinder attached and a price to match.   Then there were a couple of Kettles that were beautiful to look at and simple to use, also with a price to match.   There seemed to be some issue over who was distributing them so we may a bit of a wait.

Robert Welch had some stunningly good looking salt and pepper mills that I just love.   In fact, it wasn’t the first time I’d seen them but they do now have a production date for them, so they should be in stock by the end of September.

They also had a quite nice range of pots and pans, the 316 Series (which doubtless means something to them), in which they’d idiotically drilled holes in the lid.

Asking Sven, our account manager, why they’d done this, the quietly assured answer came back, “to stop the lids rattling and to prevent these beautifully engineered lids (which I could see they were) sealing unintentionally as they cool, and producing a vacuum, so that you cant remove them.”

I say idiotic… it really isn’t a strong enough word. In letting the steam escape you are letting out flavour and probably goodness. Simply turn down the heat on whatever it is that you're boiling every kind of hell out of, and then you will find that the lid ceases to rattle and food tastes better because it isn’t over cooked.

If you unintentionally create a 'sealed-on' lid, I expect you can guess what you can do to release it…. yes, put it back on the heat momentarily.

This level of ignorance and lack of common sense beggars belief and gets my goat to such a degree that I find it difficult to retain my sense of humour or contain my ire and contempt.

That the man in the street doesn’t know this maybe forgivable. For a manufacturer to be ignorant, is beyond my ken.  It’s a shame because there were some very nice touches to the range which, for instance, made it easy to attach a spoon to the pan handle when not in use (so no spoon rest required).  You can hang the lid off the pan’s handle (useful when, say, adding ingredients during cooking), and it comes with a Silicon knob cover, that looked classy and I’d say was copied from the old Demeyere Venus range, only this was done better, and it's replaceable!

An obvious competitor to Le Creuset’s 3 Ply, beautifully executed, moronic unnecessary lid holes, apart.

Le Creuset NEW Colour Nuit   Le Creuset were on fine form, as usual, with another new colour in the form of Nuit, an inky black dark blue…. not sure that makes sense, but anyway, a lovely colour despite it being yet another blue in the Le Creuset armoury.   There was a new Kettle design that looked as though the designer had been left out the process, and an extension to the storage jar range.

Scanpan   Scanpan is a Danish manufacturer who make very high quality cast aluminium non stick coated pots and pans.   They have just reintroduced a small range of removable handle frying pans in three sizes and a sauté pan as well.   As we get regularly asked for this type of pan, we will be stocking them fairly shortly.

CKS   James at CKS has added yet more stuff to his Zeal Brights range.   Some very attractive brightly coloured Silicone Coasters, ditto melamine Egg Cups and some slightly naff look alike cast iron trivets in Silicone.   Appalling taste but somehow still rather compelling.

Lock & Lock

Lock and Lock have come up with an updated easily stackable range of air tight and water tight storage boxes, that do look very nice and a bit trendier than their standard range, coming with their lids in a soft sagey green colour.

Kuhn Rikon For some little while now we’ve been asking Edward Margetts (Kuhns UK MD) for their excellent stainless steel fish slice, but without the silicon edge, which depending how gung-ho you are, is not really necessary and reduces its effectiveness, especially on uncoated pans.   Approaching their stand Jeanne spotted them hanging there.  Later Edward kindly presented us with one each. You might think that this was a little thing really, but I found it very touching that he had both listened to us and then had them made.     He then thought of thanking us with a gift of one each. A really lovely gesture.

Kitchencraft Jamie Oliver range extensions

They have added some rather attractive small pudding bowls, some larger cereal bowls, cutlery and a large trifle bowl which is actually plastic but doesn’t look it.  

Some really nice pieces to what is already a popular range.  

Given how popular this range proved after my email a couple of weeks back, as soon as they are available and in stock, I will of course let you know.

Black & Blum   When I asked Nick Cornwell (B&B MD) why he thought we weren’t selling more of the stainless steel microwave proof (yes that is correct) range of storage boxes (an up market, better version of Lock and Lock) he told me that it was all about meal prep. He described what his wife does on a Sunday afternoon, making her week's lunches in a one batch that she then ladles into 5 of her stainless steel food boxes.  These she takes to school (she’s a teacher) and sticks in the microwave at lunch time. Apparently, it’s the fastest growing part of the business at the moment.   So, watch this space for a promotion on them.

They also had a new large vacuum flask, with two decent size cups, which is unique, that looks very smart.  They also have a set of four plates and a bamboo chopping board, all handily strapped together for picnicking.

Conclusion

A very good show, lots of new stuff and lots of fun.

This week's offer

A few week's ago Luke, our Joseph Joseph account manager, sent me samples of their new BBQ utensils.

Specifically, the 2 Piece Turner and Tongs set, which I have since used several times.

The quality is as you'd expect from Joseph Joseph and the clever part of the design is that they can be extended for extra reach and then retracted for more efficient storage.

This set retails at £40 but we are price matching at £34.99.

The same design is used in the 4 Piece BBQ Utensil Set with Storage Case.  In addition to the tongs and turner, this set also includes a fork, a baster brush and a smart storage bag for easy transport or just ensuring your set stays together.  

This set you'll typically see at £85 but we are price matching at £79.95.

This week only we are offering a further 15% discount, so that makes the 2 Piece set £29.74 and the 4 Piece set £67.96.  

Just use code JOSE15 at checkout when shopping online or le us know who you are if coming into the shops.

I trust you have a pleasant and peaceful weekend.

Warm regards,

Andrew