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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Indulge/  German difference
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German difference

Luxury is not the end-goal of many German manufacturers, but a byproduct of a certain approach to making things

Thinking of German brands in terms of “luxury” is the wrong way to go about it. Premium
Thinking of German brands in terms of “luxury” is the wrong way to go about it.

Ah Germany. Home to so many great things. Europe’s strongest economy. Currywurst. Claudia Schiffer. Mesut Ozil. And a language that is often lampooned, but has a unique capacity to create words such as backpfeifengesicht—a face badly in need of a fist—and kummerspeck—grief bacon, or the weight you gain from emotional eating.

What does not immediately come to my mind when I think of Germany, however, is “luxury lifestyle". Yes, yes, they have all those excellent cars. And they even had an empire for a little bit. (It did not end well.)

But what else? Quick. Think of luxurious German brands. See? It is not as easy as you would think.

In the course of preparing this “Made in Germany" issue, I think I have come to realize why thinking of German brands in terms of “luxury" is the wrong way to go about it. Luxury, it seems to me, is not the end-goal of many German manufacturers. But a byproduct of a certain approach to making things.

Take, for example, this devilishly seductive bottle of white beer. The Weihenstephan brewery is perhaps the oldest maker of beer in the world. They could go on and on about this. In fact, they do this a little bit. You can read it on their label. But the brand is also proud of the fact that it is a brewery that invests in state-of-the-art technology. It is closely associated with a university. It does not rest on its laurels, but soldiers on, always seeking to make better beer.

You sense a similar story in the way watchmaker A Lange & Söhne returned to Glashütte in 1990 and restarted the brand. I dare say many a Swiss watch brand would have glossed over that modern story completely. And focused instead on the brand’s ancient history. But Lange seems proud of its resurgence and of the brand’s astonishing rise to the top of the watch business. It does this by keeping its head down, minding its own business and making fantastic state-of-the-art watches.

Also, look at the way in which Jerome Lambert talks about Montblanc’s approach to watchmaking. Sincere products at a great value price.

I hope you get a sense of this philosophy in this special Made in Germany issue. And that you experience our own excitement in talking to all these people involved with the German way of making things. From watches to cars to pens and even bathrooms.

Sidin Vadukut

(Issue editor)

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Published: 28 Feb 2014, 08:03 AM IST
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