Substance + Luxury

Sub-Zero Group has trailblazed technological and design innovation in the appliance industry since its founding in 1945, providing highly-refined, specialized luxury products and memorable experiences. Visiting the Sub-Zero campus in Wisconsin offers an unparalleled opportunity for designers, developers, customers and strategic partners to experience its brands and innovation process. Sub-Zero approached History Factory with the desire for a publication to help visitors internalize the experience.

Beginning in 2020, History Factory worked with Sub-Zero to write and design a publication that would:

-Demonstrate that Sub-Zero’s innovation is rooted in its DNA,
-Leverage the past to tell a distinctly market-led and future-driven story,
-Give a behind-the-scenes look at the company and its processes, and
-Represent the brand’s high-value innovation and luxury.

History Factory recommended the book’s structure tie directly to the campus and brand experience. Chapters mimic the partner/customer journey, with each campus facility or customer setting serving as a scene setter and symbolic jumping-off point for a broader topic. Each chapter follows a roughly linear timeline, connecting relevant threads of the past with the future to show how Sub-Zero adds substance to luxury.

The book’s design had to bring the Sub-Zero campus experience to life and stand on its own as a representation of Sub-Zero Group's exquisite style. Colorful and highly-visual, the book combines beauty with a powerful story. Captivating vintage photography and advertisements lead readers into the contemporary photographic style of the modern brand. The angles and curves that define page compositions subtly reference the geometry of Sub-Zero’s brand logos, lending drama and interest.

Silver metallic lettering debossed into a silky-smooth “soft touch” hardcover, along with high-end print and bindery techniques, ensure that the experience of reading the book mirrors that of using a Sub-Zero appliance. The book’s endpapers simulate the texture of black quartz, adding to a premium aesthetic that feels right at home in a luxury kitchen.

Weaving Sub-Zero’s campus into the company’s story of innovation, along with modern products and contemporary design, “Substance + Luxury” encapsulates Sub-Zero’s brand experience in a timeless gift.