How RiZZ created a great product with extruded aluminium
Creating great consumer products also means choosing the best material you can possibly find. RiZZ chose aluminium to manufacture a high-end doormat that would last as long as 20 years.
RiZZ started out as a brush manufacturing company in the Netherlands in 1941. The family-owned company has reinvented itself several times since, but its DNA has remained: RiZZ knows how to generate ideas, develop and market them.
“In the early 2000s, when my late wife Trudie and I were building a new house, we discovered there was not one single doormat out there which was able to meet our standards. We felt that our house and its appearance should fit in the surrounding area,” says managing director Evert Zuiddam.
“We spent 18 months doing research and learned there was nothing that could live up to our standards. So we decided we would develop a great product – the best doormat available.”
Minimalistic design for long-lasting doormat
RiZZ has as its field of expertise the entrance, the central space that accommodates many daily functions and where first impressions are made.
Working with a team of engineers, the company created a construction for its doormat. Within this construction, it would be possible to produce any measurement requested by clients. A minimalistic design helped the product fit the range of the company’s existing products.
Most of all, RiZZ wanted a doormat with outstanding performance that would last 10-20 years. Such a high-end doormat had never been introduced in the market.
Durable and long-lasting aluminium
Starting from the test phase, RiZZ believed extruded plastic could be an alternative, but with the high ambitions the company had for the product, they chose extruded aluminium.
RiZZ was already familiar with the metal, says Zuiddam. “We used it in other products before. It is lightweight, it has an easy way of machining and it looks beautiful. It was the best material we could find for this product,” he says.
Integrated brushes and dirt chambers
One of the unique selling points of the doormat is that every time a person walks over the mat, the brushes take all the dirt from his or her shoes, and by making this movement the dirt falls directly through the “dirt chambers” created in the design.
When you brush your shoes on the mat, you feel that the dirt is really falling from your shoes.
Aluminium is easy to clean and looks great
The New Standard doormat turned out exactly as RiZZ had planned. It fits all house types. First launched in silver and anthracite, the mat is now available also in white. “Aluminium is easy to clean and the white actually stays white,” says Zuiddam.
My wife always said that RiZZ should insist on having a great design for all our products, because there is no joy in making ugly things.