Zephyr, a leading designer and manufacturer of design-centric, high-end kitchen ventilation hoods, today announced its new creative collaboration with award-winning industrial designer Robert Brunner. Continuing its tradition of teaming up with the best contemporary designers, Zephyr has joined forces with Brunner to explore new aesthetic visions and develop products for the company's groundbreaking new Arc Collection.
The first models to come out of the Zephyr-Brunner collaboration are the Arc Collection's Horizon, Plane and Layers range hoods being introduced today at the 2008 Kitchen/Bath Industry Show (K/BIS) in Chicago.
"The Zephyr team and I are true creative partners," said Brunner. "I chose to work with Zephyr because they have a history of working effectively with outstanding designers like Fu-Tung Cheng and David Lewis. They clearly appreciate the value a designer brings. Also, Zephyr and I share an adventurous, forward-looking spirit of innovation. My goal is to help Zephyr realize its creative vision for the kitchen and explore other product areas where technology and user-interface design intersect."
Brunner and Alex Siow, Zephyr's founder and senior vice president of marketing and product development, previously collaborated to create the highly successful Fuego, which develops and markets high-end gas and infrared outdoor grills. Brunner continues to serve as Fuego's chief designer.
"Robert Brunner and Zephyr are a perfect match," said Siow. "We share a commitment to addressing the growing market for products that combine sophisticated design with the latest technology and approachable, user-friendly interfaces. Zephyr has reinvented what range hoods can be. Now we want to push the design still further to see what the range hood of tomorrow might look like today. That means designing range hoods that are not just beautiful but engage our customers, enabling them to personalize their kitchens and express their own unique style."
Brunner's industrial design career is rooted in technology. In 1989, he was named director of industrial design at Apple, where he developed the design configuration of the original Macintosh PowerBook, Newton and Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh. Later, as a partner at Pentagram, one of the world's most influential design firms, he and his design team worked with clients including Nike, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard. In 2007, Brunner founded Ammunition, a forward-looking product design, brand and interactive development group. His products have won numerous design awards, and his work is included in the permanent design collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).