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Unique tea box for Quooker

Sjoerd Vroonland (Studio Vroonland) is a designer who loves wood just as much as we do. He allows functions of existing products to merge into stylish new designs. This also applies to the tea chest he designed for Quooker and that he produced in collaboration with Krepel.

Combining functions

The tea chest is perfect in its simplicity. And that simplicity is exactly what makes this design so incredibly powerful. All elements flow seamlessly into each other, forming a stylish set in the process. The tea chest can be easily slid open thanks to a subtle opening at the back. On top, a ring has been moulded from the wood, which immediately gives a different perspective in terms of use of the box, as this can be used to put the tea bag on. By combining functions, the tea chest can also be used as a serving tray.

Simplicity is not easy

The way in which Sjoerd so aptly applies the power of simplicity in his design fits in perfectly with Quooker products. “Quooker supplies the best tap for boiling water currently available in the world. It looks like any other tap, but the smart part is hidden inside. I wanted to use that design feature in the tea chest. I couldn’t just make a tea chest that opens and closes and that’s it. It had to be something that takes you by surprise, like a discovery within stylish simplicity. But once you start talking about simplicity, it’s actually getting more complicated. The ring on top looks simple, but you can only do these things together with parties who can perform this to perfection. And the simpler it gets, the more perfect it has to be,” Sjoerd explains.

Ultimate collaboration

After talking to multiple parties, Sjoerd ultimately came to Krepel for the production of the tea chest and that turned out to be a good match: “The collaboration is magic. I dare call this the ultimate collaboration. The tea chest has something of me, the ingenuity of Quooker and the rock-solid quality of Krepel. The first samples were very good straight away. We only had to put the icing on the cake. You can produce a single tea chest to perfection, but if you produce it in large quantities, the quality has to be constant and Krepel lives up to that.”

Close cooperation

“It was a joy having Sjoerd so closely involved in the production process,” Antoon (Sales Manager at Krepel) says. “As a designer, he has the exact end result in mind. And besides clear sketches, it does also involve the necessary instinct. Creating a sample and fine-tuning it until the result is perfect are all part of this process. And the best thing is that this collaboration has led to a follow-up assignment. We are originally a producer of wooden cigar boxes. Sjoerd is working on a new type of cigar packaging, in which Krepel can make a difference as well. It’s wonderful to see how new ideas arise and take shape when you work so closely together.”

Sjoerd doesn’t hide his enthusiasm either. “My father smokes cigars as do I sometimes. So I know the standard cigar boxes and cigar cases inside out. This collaboration with Krepel and their rich history have inspired me to develop cigar packaging that is going to be quite different from the standard. It’ll be an altogether new product.”