Dyed in the wool

Saskia Nooij had been sitting with the idea of making coolers from sheepskin for years. At the end of 2013, she decided to take the plunge with all her obtained experience in IT, food industry, and media. She started her own company Kywie (shorthand for the phrase 'Keep your Woolie') with her own line of coolers and simply went for it. She currently has a number of her designs produced and has them tested extensively. By friends, family, neighbours, but mostly people from the wine and design world. Journalists and wine reviewers were immediately sold.

Praise for quality and design

None other than Harold Hamersma and Hubrect Duijker composed rave reviews for the Kywie wine coolers. On the quality of the temperature insulation and the design.

"Until the final glass, the test subject, a red Château des Eyrins 2010, Cru Monplaisir, Bordeaux Supérieur, remained perfectly at my desired 17 degrees celsius" [[in a Kywie wine cooler] Harold Hamersma, NRC 11-12-2014

How does a Kywie wine cooler cool?

It is not so much an invention as it is a discovery. Because we already know that wool insulates heat thanks to woollen blankets and clothes. The composition of wool ensures that temperature remains constant. So if you place something cool or cold in wool, the cold temperature is insulated. Therefore, whatever you put in the wool will be cool for a longer period of time. The Kywie wine cooler and champagne cooler do not have to be placed in a fridge or freezer beforehand to keep drinks cool. Simply place the bottle - at the right temperature - in the Kywie wine cooler. It will stay at the right temperature for the rest of the evening. It is thus a 'passive' wine cooler. It maintains the temperature, but does not actually cool down or heat up your wine. With a Kywie wine cooler, the wine temperature rises half a degree per hour at most.

Kywie coolers for wine, champagne, and much more

With praise from various wine reviewers, the first publications in several magazines followed. After that, the first purchases came. The Kywie wine cooler sells itself. Saskia sees good reason to produce coolers for belly-shaped bottles, like Champagne, Burgundy, sparkling wine, or liquor and gin. Now, she has designed an entire collection of coolers. Even for cans and (milk) bottles.

Pure and beautiful

Kywie coolers are made with sheepskin. The sheep are shorn for the summer and the wool is used in clothing manufacturing. Smaller bits of wool are stitched together and labelled as wine coolers. The entire production process is done entirely without environmentally unsound machinery or child labour, for a fair price.