With more than 300 guests present – among them the German Ambassador to Japan, Dr. Volker Stanzel – Poggenpohl’s managing director Elmar Duffner opened the first of the company’s own kitchen studios in Asia on March 10. The new Tokyo location brings to 37 the number of studios the company owns world-wide.
“Against the backdrop of its market potential as the world’s second largest economy, Japan is gaining particular importance for the Poggenpohl brand,” says Duffner. “With 1.8 million kitchens selling a year, Japan is also the world’s second largest kitchen market.” Home to no fewer than 35 million inhabitants, the Tokyo metropolitan region is an ideal marketplace for the premium kitchens from Poggenpohl.
Asia is becoming more and more important to the German company. A joint sales and marketing partnership has already been in operation with the ACTUS Corporation since 1984. With its own studio in the Japanese capital, Poggenpohl plans to step up cooperation with ACTUS and continue its expansion on the Asian market. Even today, Asia accounts for a share of 18 per cent in total turnover at Poggenpohl. Kitchens from Poggenpohl are offered on the Asian market in Bangkok, Bangalore, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Seoul, Peking, Shanghai, Singapore and Taipei.
The opening gala ceremony was attended by over 300 guests, including the two former Miss Universes Japan Rei Hamada and Kiko Matsuyama; entertainer Greg Irvin, who enjoys immense popularity in Japan; and celebrity chef Jérôme Lacressonière from Tokyo’s Beige Alain Ducasse Restaurant, who demonstrated his cooking skills in the show kitchen by preparing numerous delicacies.
The new Poggenpohl studio is situated near Tokyo’s government district and upmarket Roppongi Hills shopping complex. It has a display area of 260 square metres, offering space for five show kitchens. The jewel in the crown at the Tokyo showroom is a Porsche Design kitchen.
Worldwide, Poggenpohl currently operates 37 studios of its own, including 13 in the U.S,, nine in Germany and eight in the U.K.