Conair Corporation is an American company based in Stamford, Connecticut which sells small appliances , personal care products , and health and beauty products for both professionals and consumers .
7-486: Cuisinart ( / ˈ k w iː z ɪ n ɑːr t / kwee-zin-art ) is an American kitchen appliance and cookware brand owned by Conair Corporation . Cuisinart was founded in 1971 by Carl Sontheimer and initially produced food processors , which were introduced at a food show in Chicago in 1973. The name "Cuisinart" became synonymous with "food processor." The brand's name is a portmanteau of "cuisine" and "art." Cuisinart
14-548: A garage in Queens, New York, Conair started out by selling hair rollers and then hair dryers. It continued to expand, and became a public company in 1972, but then went private again after a leveraged buyout in 1985. It was owned by the co-founder and chairman Leandro Rizzuto until his death in 2017. Conair is one of the largest producers of hair care appliances, ranging from hair dryers and styling irons to its innovative hair curlers, Curl Secret and Miracurl Stylers. In 1995, BaByliss
21-611: A review in Gourmet magazine helped to lift sales. Throughout the mid-1970s, Cuisinart sales rose due to the brand's association with celebrity chefs such as James Beard , a close friend of Carl Sontheimer. Cuisinart hired industrial designer Marc Harrison in the 1970s to design new products and improve other existing designs, many of the company's products became associated with universal design . Harrison made its products more functional for users with disabilities, designing larger fonts so that people with vision problems could see them. By
28-435: The mid-to-late 1980s, Cuisinart incurred financial troubles and suffered from falling sales. A group of investors bought Sontheimer's interest in the company in 1987 for $ 42 million. In August 1989, the company filed for bankruptcy. This led to Conair buying the company for $ 27 million. In the late 1970s, a legal dispute between Robot-Coupe and Cuisinart began when Robot-Coupe stopped distributing Cuisinart products and released
35-642: The products under their own name. Robot-Coupe hired Alvin Fineman, Cuisinart's former marketing director in 1979, who engaged in competitive advertisements that resulted in a lawsuit. Robot-Coupe was ordered to stop insinuating that Cuisinart sold products manufactured by Robot-Coupe. Products produced under the Cuisinart brand include: Conair Corporation It is majority-owned by private equity firm American Securities , with some minority stakes held by family members of founder Leandro Rizzuto . Founded in 1959 in
42-604: Was acquired by the Conair Corporation. The BaByliss brand was created by the hairstylists René Lelièvre and Roger Lemoine, working in Paris in the early 1960's. Lelièvre innovated on the early curling tong, and marketed his products for professional hair stylists. The company also manufactures a wide range of home kitchen appliances under its brands Cuisinart and Waring. In 2002 Rizzuto pleaded guilty to tax evasion associated with his tenure as Chief Executive Officer of Conair, and
49-509: Was purchased by Conair Corporation in 1989. Cuisinart was founded in 1971 by Carl Sontheimer , a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was inspired by his love of French food. This led to the creation of Cuisinart and its main product, the food processor . Cuisinart introduced its brand in January 1973 at a trade show in Chicago. The success of Cuisinart was limited at first, until
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