Description
Most people associate the name Aga with good food and fine living,
but many are unaware of the rich and interesting history that lies
behind the world’s most famous cooker.
Although often thought of as quintessentially British, the Aga
actually began life in Sweden. The cooker that has become the heart of
the home in more than 750,000 households around the world was invented
by Dr Gustav Dalén, a blind Nobel Prize-winning physicist.
Appalled that his wife and their maid had to constantly tend to
their old-fashioned range, Dalén set about designing a thoroughly
modern cooker. It’s unlikely he could have predicted that his invention
would go on to be widely acclaimed as a design icon.
But there’s also so much more to the Aga brand, including a range of
distinctive conventional cookers, wonderfully cool refrigeration
products, a massive collection of fabulous cookware and a line-up of
Aga-branded stoves to suit every home.
Almost all casting takes place at Coalbrookdale, the
Shropshire cradle of the Industrial Revolution, where, in 1709, Abraham
Darby first melted iron using coke. The latest Aga is made in exactly
the same way; by pouring molten iron into a mould to create cast iron.
It is cast iron that possesses the unique heat retention properties
that are an intrinsic part of the way an Aga cooks. Today, however,
every new Aga is both 70 percent made from recycled materials and 70
percent future recyclable.
We also continually strive towards greater environmental
sustainability and energy efficiency. For instance, our new 13-amp
electric Aga is, thanks to AIMS, the Aga Intelligent Management System,
programmable for greater control and versatility.
We’re even working on solar and wind power and other alternative
energies. While our factory might not be more than a few miles from
Darby’s first foundry, we’ve come a long way in 300 years. | 