OXO is well-known in the US for their sleek designs and both the functionality and reliability of their products, but when they decided to go global with their much-loved kitchen products, the company discovered that what one market is looking for, isn't exactly right for another. And that people don't look at kitchen gadgets the same way in Japan as they do in the US.
In Japan, the tools were less-than-popular, to put it mildly. The large and user-friendly sizes of the tools, which are widely considered to be easier than their smaller counterparts with the company's target demographic - baby boomers - in the US, were too unwieldy for Japanese women who held their cooking spatulas "like a pen." A few design tweaks (and the opening of a Tokyo office) later, the company had Japan-only spatulas and a salad spinner that was 35% smaller than the original, which appealed to space-conscious consumers. They have commissioned Japanese designers to come up with new Japanese-friendly designs from graters, storage boxes and kettles to appeal directly to the Japanese aesthetic and functionality. For example, the graters specifically work best with daikons, rather than cheeses, which are used with most US graters.
The company hopes to introduce some of their Japanese designs here in the US next year.
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