Moccamaster

At the time, Gerard Clement Smit was an enthusiastic industrial designer and draughtsman with his own agency, who designed for others on contract basis. In 1964 he decided that he would also manufacture his own designs and set up the company Technivorm. In a hired factory in Elst ( near Amerongen ), he began producing step ladders and shelf stacking systems, which he himself had designed an patented. Straight away, this was a great success. Many thousands of a articles were sold in those early years, at which time Technivorm had around 6 employees. In 1968 Technivorm began developing a coffee maker for the fast-filter and normal method. One year after the award of international patents, this appliance came onto the market. Various other models followed in quick succession; originally for household use only, but later in 1983, coffee makers for the professional market were launched. The success led to explosive growth of the company, which also meant that Technivorm's production facilities needed rebuilding an expansion on several occasions. Technical developments also followed each other in quick succession during this period. More and more use was made of industrial applications and in 1988, it became necessary for the company to move the Amerongen industrial estate.