In a world where automated, instantaneous and ephemeral production reign supreme, La Cornue cultivates ardor, slowness and durability. They believe the work of a person is worth more than that of a machine. Technological innovations comply first and foremost with craftsmanship. La Cornue make their customers simmer too... to their great pleasure! “All good things come to those who wait,” so wrote Rabelais, the greediest of gourmets, nearly five centuries ago.
With this new furniture range, that’s the ambition of Xavier Dupuy, La Cornue Chairman and grandson of Albert Dupuy who founded the brand in 1908. With this revolutionary new range, known as La Cornue W and designed by Jean- Michel Wilmotte, the La Cornue name is taking its place at the very heart of our era. Proof that, over a century since its birth, La Cornue is still a daring, innovative company.
This is the first time in thirty years that La Cornue has created a new model. It is also the first time in the history of electrical appliances that a stove has been created by a top designer. It has taken four years of development to create this original range dedicated to design and architecture. And with it, the La Cornue brand, the very symbol of French-style art de vivre, proclaims loud and clear that it is part of the 21st century whilst retaining its DNA: the spirit of innovation and gourmet hedonism.
“Creating an attractive modern alternative to traditional French art de vivre, offering an innovative culinary range, designed as a real professional reference, a line that is as lasting and prestigious as all our others” Xavier Dupuy, La Cornue Chairman
TWO SIGNATURES
The idea for La Cornue W came when two men met around a grand table; it is the result of a search for culinary perfection on the one hand and the interpretation of heritage on the other. To establish this dialogue between past and present, who could have been better placed than Jean-Michel Wilmotte, the builder and defender of the “contemporary graft” concept?The architect has taken the La Cornue fundamentals and reinterpreted them in his own creative style. All the traditional components of the brand are therefore found in the W range: the kitchen towel
rail, the cooking control knobs, the generous size of the cooktop (150cm) and the legendary vaulted oven. All in the spirit of the Frenchstyle art de vivre that is so dear to the brand, but in the radically contemporary look specific to Jean-Michel Wilmotte’s style. The W range uses the architect’s iconic vocabulary: black and brown colours, fine and powerful materials, ribbed lines and visible screws.
A NEW LOOK AT KITCHEN APPLIANCES
True to the La Cornue spirit, units in the W range are free-standing, unique items of furniture, a
far cry from the principle of a fitted kitchen. No longer a stove but a cooktop with elegant legs. This search for lightness and elegance is reminiscent of the revolutionary models that André Dupuy, the great inventor who ran the Salon des Arts Ménagers (Home Living Show) for thirty years, developed in the sixties to help
women forget they were cooking. His range, known as the Cornulyre, comprised units with tapered legs, more in the style of a lady’s dressing table or Hi-Fi unit than a new style of cooker.
Today La Cornue returns to this daring, offering a range of kitchen appliances whose functionality is
hidden within an item of furniture; thus the cooker becomes a table and the oven, a cupboard.
UNIQUE ERGONOMIC DESIGN
La Cornue has always sought to respond to culinary demands. The elements in the W range have
therefore all been given top ranking technical features. The induction hob is fitted with four hot plates
representing total power of 14 kW, i.e. the equivalent of professional kitchens. The indicator lights are located on the sides of the hob, to enable the chef to see them at all times. The polished stainless steel adjustment knobs are on the front, for speed of use. The hot plates are laid out in a rainbow leaving a space in the centre of the hob that can be used for preparing food, placing pans and kitchen tools etc., in this way the cooker becomes a unique area for the entire cooking process. At the controls of this high tech cooktop, the chef is almost like a DJ at his mixing console.
The development of the new vaulted oven, a speciality at La Cornue from the very beginning, which guarantees impeccable cooking, has been also been a technical prowess. This electric model, high performance yet well placed in terms of energy consumption, already complies with future European standards. It is controlled electronically by sensor and by field of 5 degrees, which guarantees unique cooking precision. Temperature control is possible right from 45 degrees, compared to the usual 150 degrees, thus permitting slow cooking. The peripheral cooker hood is remote-controlled with the suction area located around the edge of the hood, guaranteeing maximum odour absorption.
For more information visit: www.lacornue.com