Eurolinx last night officially opened its newly redesigned and reconfigured Sydney showroom, now fitted out with both its famous ILVE brand and its recently relaunched De Dietrich range. The showroom is located at 48 Moore Street, Leichhardt.
Managing director Jamey Colbert was joined by De Dietrich’s Jean de Poncins, based in France, and Tobias Schweizer, based in Malaysia, to welcome guests, clients, designers, architects and the media to the pristine and elegant showroom, built underneath Eurolinx’s head office in Sydney’s inner west.
Jamey Colbert, managing director of Eurolinx, was particularly grateful to the large number of guests that showed up, braving the wild and inclement weather for an evening of fine wine, cold beers and canapes from high concept Sydney harbour noshery Café del Mar.
“You’ve made a huge effort considering the wild weather we’ve had so thank you for that,” Colbert said, before launching into his official presentation.
“We are thrilled to have you here for the relaunch of the Eurolinx showroom and to introduce you to the De Dietrich brand.
“Our company, Eurolinx, is a family-owned company and has been representing appliances for 30 years. We are also very excited tonight to introduce you to the De Dietrich brand. Behind me you’ll see there is 300 years of history.
Referring to its 1684 founding in the Alsace region of France and its 1890s dalliance with automobile manufacturing, Colbert said, “De Dietrich started in a castle, ended up with a Bugatti and now we’ve got an oven. I think that’s a pretty cool story”.
Eurolinx (ILVE & De Dietrich) showroom relaunch image gallery
Export director Jean de Poncins flew in from France for the relaunch of the showroom and he echoed Colbert’s thanks for the sizable attendance.
“Thank you everybody for coming,” he said. “I’m very honoured to be here with you. This evening we are here to celebrate the first launch of De Dietrich in Sydney, which marks the start of an exciting development of the brand here in Australia.”
Although the general mood was of new beginnings it was not verboten to mention De Dietrich’s capricious fortunes in Australia.
Eurolinx picked up the distribution of premium French brand De Dietrich in early 2013, which had been let go by Hagemeyer after the Shriro takeover.
The collapse of Clive Peeters played a big role in this decision. When that ill-fated retailer was brought undone by an embezzling accountant, it created a hole in Eurolinx’s ILVE sales and devastated De Dietrich. Eurolinx has strong relationships with other retailers, Harvey Norman, for example, but De Dietrich was an exclusive Clive Peeters brand, and doing quite well, according to Hagemeyer staff at the time. The De Dietrich brand needed a new and loving home and Eurolinx needed a new venture to keep growth on track. ILVE plays at the medium-to-high-end while De Dietrich is for the most discerning of well-minted consumer, so there is no internal cannibalisation.
“It’s an international brand known for its design and innovative technology,” continued Jean de Poncins. “De Dietrich invented induction and pyrolytic ovens and will continue to invest to develop new designs and new technology for the future.
“Combining excellence, innovation and tradition, De Dietrich continues to drive the philosophy of the brand and we are excited to bring this legacy back to Australia with our partnership with Eurolinx.
“With the quality of the team, the quality of the services given and the marketing of Eurolinx, we and all the De Dietrich team are confident in the development of the brand in this strategic market for the group.”
Appliances showcased by De Dietrich at the launch included zoneless induction cooktops in black and ‘grey pearl’, fully integrated ovens, combi-steam cookers and dishwashers.
Tess Bennett contributed reporting.