CaesarStone® Kitchen Design Competition
Winners Trip 2010, Eurocucina, Milan, Italy
Philip Richards of Blu-Line Living in Gauteng
I had the enormous privilege of winning the first CaesarStone® kitchen design competition this year. The entire trip was amazing, from the flight, to the hotels we stayed at, to the dinner Caesarstone® organized in an exclusive Milan hotel on our first night there. Eurocucina, was in itself incredible.
After attending Eurocucina, the trip was rounded off with a visit to Rome. Four-star hotel luxury, good food and fantastic sightseeing were the order of the day!
This was a truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I enjoyed every minute, savouring the wonder of Italian design and cuisine and the beauty and diversity of the country itself.
I’d like to thank CaesarStone® for how well they looked after me. Not only did they give me generous spending money and treat me to brilliant meals, they also handled the flight delays caused by the volcanic ash cloud incredibly graciously and paid for another flight, just so that I could get home on schedule to my family.
Overall, I was blessed by this opportunity and am grateful to Caesarstone® and Malissa for exceeding my expectations on all fronts.
Trip to Eurocucina, Milan Italy 2010
Malissa Barnard: the winning CaesarStone® consultant
I have had the great pleasure of attending this year’s Eurocucina, the amazing and innovative furniture exhibition held bi-annually in Milan’s spectacular and visitor-friendly Rho Fairgrounds.
The show attracted 155 exhibitors and 329,563 visitors streamed through the gates to see the world’s largest display of cabinets, doors, worktops, kitchen lighting, sinks and kitchen fixtures. The show is a great venue for professionals looking for opportunities, talent and ideas for the kitchens of the future.
This year’s exhibition showed that designers are keeping pace with a rapidly changing world by creating kitchens which meet the needs of different consumers. The kitchen has become the centre of the home, a place where we socialise, communicate, and entertain, and the modern kitchen has been fitted and personalised to meet this growing trend.
Changing attitudes towards conservation were also evident. New and unusual materials are being used, with a strong focus on recycled and eco-friendly production processes.
The kitchens on display showed very clean lines, often without handles. Worktops were thin and made use of exotic materials such as glass, aluminium and stainless steel. Textures in the modern kitchen played a big part, with naturally finished timbers and honed stone completing a sleek, streamlined look. The textures added warmth and visual interest to colours which were neutral, light and clean. Appliances ranged from modern stainless steel, glass and chrome, to fun and excitingly colourful retro appliances in enamelled finishes.
The scale of Eurocucina was mind-blowing and the quality of the exhibitions was of the highest standard. As a first-time visitor I found it a humbling experience, to be surrounded by such amazing innovation and talent.
Many thanks to Caesarstone® for this unbeatable experience. It was certainly the silver lining in an Icelandic Ash Cloud.
