Balmuda

Balmuda K. K. (バルミューダ株式会社), stylized BALMUDA, is a Japanese design and manufacturing company that produces small appliances and computer accessories. Its products have won international recognition for their designs, including Red Dot and iF Product Design awards. The story behind one of the company's early products was adapted for television in the NHK drama Hanbun, Aoi.

Balmuda K. K.
Native name
バルミューダ株式会社
Private
Industry
Founded2003 (2003)
FounderGen Terao
Headquarters
Musashino, Tokyo
,
Japan
Number of employees
100
Websitewww.balmuda.co.jp

History

Balmuda was founded in Tokyo in 2003 by Gen Terao, a high-school dropout who pursued a music career for several years before starting Balmuda as a product design company.[1] The company's first product was the Floater, an aluminum laptop stand that Macworld praised for its design but noted that buyers would be "definitely paying—a lot—for the unique design and the production process".[2]

A Balmuda "The Toaster" toaster

After nearly going bankrupt during the late-2000s recession, in 2010 the company launched the GreenFan, a home air circulation fan that Terao had designed to eliminate the strong air currents resulting from traditional bladed fan designs. Terao claims that the idea for the fan, which combines two different blade systems operating at different speeds, came from watching children linking arms and trying to run in a circle, and noting what happened when faster and slower children were linked together.[3] The story of Balmuda's development of the GreenFan product was later adapted by NHK for a series of episodes in the 98th asadora Hanbun, Aoi.[4]

Balmuda has since introduced several more small appliances, including a toaster, a microwave oven, an electric kettle, and a rice cooker, with Balmuda providing product design and distribution but all manufacturing outsourced to other companies.[5] The toaster oven, called "The Toaster" and introduced in 2015, was not initially advertised to consumers, but sold so quickly that customers had to wait three months to get their product.[6] The company has also developed a signature food product, BALMUDA The Curry, intended to be prepared with Balmuda appliances.[7]

The company announced its expansion into Europe in 2013.[8] In 2017 Balmuda opened its first retail store, located in Tokyo's Ginza neighborhood.[9] As of 2018 it has over 100 employees.[4]

Product design

Balmuda has drawn comparisons to Apple Inc. for its approach to "turning humidifiers, toasters, and space heaters into objects of desire".[10] The original GreenFan received a Red Dot Award and iF Product Design Award.[11] Several subsequent products have also received iF Design Awards, including two Gold Awards.[12] Balmuda's product design has been imitated by other manufacturers, and the company has taken legal action to challenge products of apparently similar design, such as air purifiers produced by Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi.[13]

gollark: Autorefreshing.
gollark: I HAVE NO IDEA!
gollark: *ARing
gollark: That's it. I'm ERing you. HATCH OR DIE!
gollark: It has 510 UVs, is in basically every hatchery, and is at 4d, but nooo...

References
  1. Cotani, Tomonari (September 10, 2012). "Balmuda: Re-inventing Wind". WIRED Japan (in Japanese). Vol. 5. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  2. Frakes, Dan (September 21, 2007). "Grand stands". Macworld. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  3. Terao, Gen (September 3, 2015). "トップ > バルミューダ・寺尾玄「"脱常識"家電メーカーのつくり方」 > バルミューダ・寺尾玄：「二重構造の羽根」「DCモーター」には、こうしてたどり着いた". Nikkei BP (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 16, 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  4. "【半分、青い。】バルミューダ寺尾玄社長、劇中製品開発に協力". Oricon News (in Japanese). September 6, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  5. "Japan's upstart appliance makers winning over consumers". Nikkei Asian Review. September 17, 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  6. Stevenson, Reed (July 3, 2016). "Meet Balmuda, the $230 Toaster From Japan". Bloomberg. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  7. 益成, 恭子 (June 18, 2018). "バルミューダ社長が語るカレー誕生秘話　味の鉄則は「あしたのジョー」". Women's Wear Daily Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  8. "バルミューダ、ドイツに現法設立－高級扇風機を展開". Asahi Shimbun. April 8, 2013. Archived from the original on December 20, 2013. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  9. 衣川, 枝里 (April 11, 2018). "「BALMUDA The Toaster」に白とブルーの爽やかな限定カラーモデル". My Navi News (in Japanese). Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  10. Hall, Kenji (April 1, 2017). "A Toast to Good Design". Monocle. Vol. 11 no. 102. pp. 70–71. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  11. "Frische Brise anstatt Luftzug". Architektur Zeitung (in German). July 22, 2013. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  12. "iF World Design Guide: Balmuda, Inc". International Forum Design. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  13. Kan, Michael (December 11, 2014). "Xiaomi faces copycat charge from Japanese company over new air purifier". PCWorld. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
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