Fisher & Paykel brings New Zealand nature to the kitchen

Fisher & Paykel drew on the landscapes and material culture of its New Zealand home at this year’s Salone del Mobile, creating an immersive installation that positioned the kitchen as a place shaped by nature, ritual and everyday life.

GALLERY

Presented in the EuroCucina section of the Milan design fair, Nature – Ritual juxtaposed large-scale screens showing dense New Zealand forests with tactile timber, volcanic stone and handcrafted ceramics.

At its centre was Fisher & Paykel’s State of the Art Collection, including ovens, refrigeration and fabric care appliances, presented within a domestic-inspired environment.

The installation’s material palette was rooted in the landscape surrounding the brand’s Auckland headquarters. Appliances from the collection were framed with native tōtara wood, arranged in a randomised pattern to create a distinctly handcrafted appearance. Basalt, a volcanic rock found extensively around Auckland, provided a contrasting material expression.

“Throughout the space, there are two key materials that we’ve used,” said Fisher & Paykel CMO Katrina Glenday. “One is the tōtara wood, which is a native timber from New Zealand, and the other is basalt.”

The connection to domestic life was reinforced through Fisher & Paykel’s Social Kitchen philosophy, which explores the relationships and rituals that develop around everyday appliances. A central kitchen setting allowed visitors to interact directly with a combination steam oven, modular induction cooktop, integrated column refrigeration and column wine cabinets.

Wine preservation was presented as another everyday ritual, with Fisher & Paykel highlighting the importance of temperature, humidity, light and clean air in caring for wine and creating opportunities for sharing it with family and friends.

To give the installation a more personal, lived-in quality, Fisher & Paykel collaborated with New Zealand ceramicist Aaron Scythe, who created a collection inspired by Japanese Mino ceramics and finished in Oribe glaze. The pieces were arranged throughout shelving and display niches, demonstrating how appliances could sit naturally within a residential kitchen rather than being treated as isolated objects.

Elsewhere, ovens and cooling drawers were integrated into timber pillars, while a wardrobe-style display presented the brand’s steam care fabric cabinets and front-loading washing machine.

For Fisher & Paykel, the Milan installation represents an opportunity to engage directly with the wider design community. Rather than prescribing how a kitchen should look, the brand positioned its appliances as tools that allow designers to create considered, highly individual residential interiors.

Images courtesy of Fisher & Paykel