Hunter Douglas Ceiling Fans: 120 Years Of Design From Hunter Douglas Ceiling Fans

Hunter Douglas ceiling fans have survived for over a century and there is good reason for this endurance. We live in a consumer-driven culture. And one of the ways in which we are being driven to consume is by a constant bombardment of newly designed products which, while they may actually differ very little from items already on the market, are promoted as “upgraded”, or as “new, and improved”. If the makers of the original product do not do this, their competitors will. Such designations work on our desires to have the most cutting-edge products available.

But such rapid product changes can, at the same time, work against the product makers. Consumers are notoriously fickle, and will head like magpies for the shiniest new version of the same old technology, even if the shine is purely cosmetic. So it is rare indeed for a single manufacturer to remain at the top of its field for any length of time. Only the most dependable makers of the most reliable products can develop customer loyalty to that degree.

And Hunter Douglas, one of America’s first manufacturers of ceiling fans, has done just that. Hunter Douglas began producing ceiling fans over one hundred and twenty years ago, in 1886, when it had to power its fans with water. But like the manufacturers of today, they kept working on “new and improved” models, and eventually developed an electrically-powered fan. And, while Hunter Douglas ceiling fans are no longer made in the U.S., they remain one of the world’s best-selling brands.

One of Hunter Douglas’ ceiling fans designs, titled “the original”, is made with a cast iron pole motor that is considered a classic. This model has been around since the early 1900s, and Hunter Douglas stuck with the design even as the demand for ceiling fans wavered throughout the 20th century. They did so in the face of competition from more intricate, “decorator” imported fans. And they did so because Hunter Douglas ceiling fans, with their simple but solid construction, coupled with the industry’s most powerful motor, set a standard for ceiling fan performance that consumers had come to expect.

And Hunter-Douglas ceiling fans, with their dependable, basic, utilitarian designs, are as popular as ever, setting the benchmark to which even their strongest competitors aspire. Hunter Douglas has maintained its quality in the face of market trends which dictated that ceiling fans be more stylish than substantive. And for most consumers in the market for ceiling fans, that is enough.

Hunter Douglas Ceiling Fans: 120 Years Of Design From Hunter Douglas Ceiling Fans

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