Did you know that you can cook a fish inside a block of ice, inside an oven, without the ice melting?
Did you know that you can get an oven that has an HD camera inside it, that sends a high res photo to your tablet or smartphone so you can see how cooked your food is?
Did you know that if you forget to take the bread out of the said oven, that the oven will open the door, blow the hot air out and close the door again?
Sounds like science fiction, but we learned last night that Miele’s new technology inside it’s new Generation 7000 oven can do all of these things. You can imagine how excited we were to explore their new Coffee Machines!
Yesterday Mel and I traveled up to Joburg for the Global launch of Miele’s 7000 range. We learned a lot of very interesting things, like the fact that Miele is 120 years old as a brand! That it is still owned and run by the same family (the great grandson is the CEO). Also that it’s taken 6 years for Miele to launch the 353 appliances in the 7000 range (the 6000 range was launched in 2013!) and in these last 6 years Miele has invested heavily in AI, in wireless tech, in smart tech and has refined the user experience to something of an artform.
So much of an artform, that they have collaborated with a Japanese artist, Makoto Azuma, to freeze flower arrangements in blocks of ice to get the messaging across – and it looks beautiful!
We had the opportunity to sit down with Christian Gerwens, the Regional Managing Director for Americas, Australia, NZ and Africa (who’s portfolio of products is worth about R13billion annually!) And look, the Miele products are not cheap. The ovens, the coffee machines, the steamers, the wine coolers – the premium stuff of modern kitchens are expensive. But in talking to Christian, once you start to understand the investment that Miele puts into their products, you start to get an idea of why they are best-in-category, and also so pricey.
What kind of investment? Let’s talk about that fish shall we?
Miele invested in the technology developed by a company that uses temperature control in human tissue samples and applied into the oven range. In simple terms the technology recognises what you put in the oven, in this case a whole fish frozen inside a block of ice, and it applies energy to the fish knowing exactly how much to apply to cook it perfectly and it applies zero energy to the ice. Sounds impossible, but it’s true.
So what of the coffee machines – here’s the highlights package:
We were extremely impressed by the new range of Miele products, and extremely impressed by the South African launch of the 7000 range. Well done to the Miele team. Christian, Brendan, Mercia, Liam and the technical team, you guys did an amazing job and can be really proud of the products and a well executed event!
Myself, Christian (Miele) and Quincy from Afropolitan Magazine. You can see the flowers and ice imagery on the back wall.
"Lights, camera, action!" Mercia de Jager from Miele SA talked us through the new technology that even senses when a human walks into the kitchen, the appliances turn on and start operating!
Mel gets a demo of the new Miele CVA 7845 coffee machine.
iPad control, perfect design lines and all the working bits behind the screen door.
How insane is this flower in ice arrangement? And no, its not photoshop. These are real installations!
