Functional style meets funky

An espresso machine for home use has not been typically thought of as a designer object, but that perception changed about a decade ago when Illy subsidiary Francis Francis introduced its X1 coffee maker, a functional and funky machine designed by Milan architect Luca Trazzi. The Italian coffee giant and the architect have continued to collaborate and the newest Francis Francis/Trazzi machines will be introduced in the spring.
The X1 caused a sensation in 1995, when its bold form first appeared. The Francis Francis machine was solid and well-built with inner workings such as brass boilers and bronze fittings, but what really distinguished Trazzi’s design was the playful, rounded shape of the machine’s metal housing and its availability in a bright palette of colours including red, orange, green, and deep and pale blue.
Francis Francis wanted to transform the home espresso machine from mere appliance to an object with an emotional connection to its user – a characteristic of many designs for the home – and though hardly an iPod-like marketing success, the Italian manufacturer and Trazzi succeeded in producing a remarkable design. More models followed and the newest designs set for a spring debut are the X7 and X8, machines that further refine home espresso making through the application of a new coffee extraction technology.
Trazzi, who apprenticed with legendary architect Aldo Rossi, is not the first Italian architect and designer to create an espresso machine design, however. In the late 1940s, modern Italian design patriarch Gio Ponti partnered with fellow architects Antonio Fornaroli and Alberto Rosselli to design the La Cornuta commercial espresso maker for Italian manufacturer La Pavoni. Its expressive form suggested a fascination for modern machinery. Late 1950s and early ‘60s commercial espresso machine designs included Enzo Mari and Bruno Munari’s Concorso series, also for La Pavoni, as well as the Castiglioni brothers’ Pitagora machine for La Cimbali and Marco Zanuso’s Z8 design for Milan–based manufacturer Rancilio.
Milan engineer Luigi Bezzera is widely credited with designing the first commercial espresso machine a century ago and the machine’s incremental design development is linked with Italian brand names known today. Trieste-based Illy says its 1935 Illetta machine was the first with automatic water dosing and a jet of compressed air. (Sadly, long-time company chairman and chemist Ernesto Illy, renowned for an advanced scientific approach to coffee processing, died earlier this month at age 82.) Giovanni Achille Gaggia’s late 1940s Classica machine introduced the use of a spring-powered piston and the Faema E61 was the first machine with a heat exchanger and a rotary pump. In the 1930s, the Bialetti company introduced its now-famous Moka Express stovetop espresso maker, familiar to generations of Italian households. Milan designer Richard Sapper added a touch of elegance to the stovetop espresso maker market when he designed the stainless steel 9090 manual model for Alessi in 1979.
Like Francis Francis, Italian manufacturer Saeco recently upped the design ante with one of its new models. The company earned the Germany-based Red Dot design award last year for its Talea Touch automatic home espresso machine. The American-designed model was cited for its clarity of function and operation, as well as for its ergonomic detailing. Spanish manufacturer Ascaso also produces a design-friendly espresso maker with its Dream machine, designed by Marc Aranyo. The Spanish machine’s market profile was raised recently thanks to its appearance on the retail shelves of a certain international coffee retailer based out of Seattle.
For consumers who like high concept design as much as a warming and energizing shot of espresso, however, Luca Trazzi’s models for Francis Francis continue to occupy the leading edge of espresso machine design. Trazzi’s work underscores the coffee drinker’s relationship with the beverage; like the drink’s flavourful complexity and textured crema, his designs can engage the senses.