High End Kitchens
As part of a new branding strategy, guided by Business Coach Mariëlle Rooijakkers, Culimaat has developed the beautiful coffee table book "High End Kitchens. At Culimaat you can go for luxury, high end and special kitchens.
Like the kitchens designed by Culimaat, the book was intended to be high-end look . For that kind of high-end look, NPN|Graphius is, of course, the right place to go. Mariëlle knew that too. She didn’t hesitate for a moment and turned to our printing company to bring this beautiful project to life together.
High End Kitchens was first presented at the branding event celebrating Culimaat's 40th anniversary.
A special appearance
Let's get right to the point: those who hold High End Kitchens in their hands will immediately see that it is not a standard book. The look of the cover is based on Swamp Oak; a high-quality wood material used in many Culimaat kitchens. Opening the book, one notices that this is done exactly the opposite way from other books. This is because the book block is turned over in the binding for a unique look. Then your eye is likely to fall immediately on the flyleaf, which is made of a beautiful luxurious wallpaper.
The story of Culimaat
Not only the outside of this book is unique. The inside is at least as special. High End Kitchens is, on the one hand, a showcase of Culimaat's finest projects, rendered in stunning images and large expanders. With each project you will find a QR code that leads to a video of the kitchen in question in person. You'll feast your eyes!
On the other hand, this book takes you into the inspiring story of this high-end kitchen company. This story makes the love and inspiration behind Culimaat perfectly visible and tangible.
"We worked with a bunch of creative people who all wanted to achieve the highest possible results. Because so much was possible, it was quite a challenge to make choices. That made the whole process, especially given the event's tight deadline, quite a challenge."
From infinite possibilities to clear choices
For Culimaat, this was the very first brand book they had ever developed. While they had had magazines printed in the past, a high-quality book like this was a whole different story. Drawing on her expertise and previous collaboration with NPN|Graphius, Mariëlle therefore oversaw this process for Culimaat. Especially in the beginning, she consulted with us extensively about the plans for this project.
And that was quite a puzzle at times: "We worked with a bunch of creative people who all wanted to achieve the highest possible result. Because so much was possible, it was quite a challenge to make choices. New possibilities were added last-minute every time. That made the whole process, especially given the event's tight deadline, quite a challenge."
For Herman van Culimaat, too, the sheer number of options was a challenge: “We could never have done this on our own; we would have been completely overwhelmed by all the possibilities. Both Mariëlle and Perry from NPN|Graphius helped us by breaking the project down into small, manageable chunks. This allowed us to stay deeply involved from the very beginning, while still seeing the big picture.”
Testing, testing, testing
Working with creatives who want the highest achievable result requires testing, adjusting, testing and adjusting again. Mariëlle found that to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of this project:
"It is ideal that we could first see and feel a dummy, before the project was sent into the printing office. Because everyone was involved in every detail, it was critically examined and we made adjustments each time. Several dummies followed one another, but this did ensure a perfect end result: everything about High End Kitchens is right."
Prouder than proud
Herman and his colleagues Twan and Davy are incredibly proud of the final result: “This book beautifully captures everything we’ve achieved at Culimaat. It’s truly become our baby. We’ve poured our heart and soul into it and are delighted with the collaboration with NPN|Graphius.” For Culimaat, the entire printing process was completely new: “It was the first time we’d gone through such a process, and the guidance couldn’t have been better. At NPN|Graphius, they really thought along with us and weren’t afraid to be honest.” The book has since found its way to many enthusiastic recipients. Herman and Mariëlle are clearly not the only ones who are incredibly proud of the final result. “We’ve already distributed the book to our employees and the architects we work with frequently. The reactions were incredibly positive!”
