Espresso in Style Details

Logo details of the first espresso coffee machine, Ideale by La Pavoni. After acquiring the patent of the 1901 from Luigi Bezzera, Pavoni released Ideale, the first coffee machine to make coffee upon ‘express’ request of the customer. The machinist, skilfully dosing hot water and steam, prepared the drink on demand, using a fresh dose of coffee each time.

The machines symbolise energy, warmth, industry, modernity; the details put on columns and domes showed the plant, the fruit and sometimes also the white flower of the coffee, largely unfamiliar to the general public.  Boilers of the machines ape those of the modern locomotives, celebrated at the Milan International fair in 1906 dedicated to transport, held to inaugurate the Paris-Milan railway line and the Simplon Tunnel, the longest in Europe and symbol of ongoing progress.

The creativity of the Roaring Twenties knows no limit or measure, so much that some of the logos on the new 'espresso' machines evoke powerful symbols associated with the idea of an endless, unique and immortal cycle. Artists and craftsmen transform reality into dreams of distant worlds through everyday objects capable of opening the mind and expanding knowledge. Coffee machines also tend towards a perfect balance between impressiveness and refinement, opulence and glamour, luxury and progress

The precision of the mechanics was complemented by the attention to style, the designs now simplified and pared back with curved lines, geometric forms and the elimination of all superfluous details.      The Manifesto of Mechanical Art captured the dynamism and the fast rhythm of modern life, particularly in the city, where ordering an espresso at a bar had now become the norm, and just before the Second World War there were over 5000 working machines in Milan alone. 

Aesthetic evolution dances with technological innovation on clean volumes, polished chrome surfaces, lightness and mass-producibility, emphasising the importance of a synthesis between form and function, beauty and utility.

Detail of manometer and emblem with 3 circles (Officina Cimbali Giuseppe) of La Rapida by La Cimbali, the first model ever to be produced by the historic Milanese brand. In line with the other machines of the time, it has a classic column machine with an upright boiler and a hybrid system (electric and gas) for heating the water, in order to compensate for the difficulty in accessing energy sources. 

No one better summed up the style of an era of transition between the functional and the ephemeral, the 'sublime' and the extravagant than Mademoiselle Chanel. Clean and sober lines also recall the essence of modernism in coffee filters and advertising posters that, from simple and informative advertisements, emphasise the imagery of modernity and progress with more sophisticated and persuasive metrics, vibrant colours, stylised shapes and captivating texts.

This technology elevated espresso to cult status and transformed the figure of the “machinist”, the person who formerly operated the coffee machine thanks to his stoker’s licence, into a “counter operator”, i.e. an expert user of the lever machine, positioned on the counter in front of the customer, thus giving rise to the ritual of consuming coffee at the bar. 

The logos and decorations of the coffee machines recall the period, the prestige and sometimes the identity of the city in which they were manufactured, such as the winged lion of San Marco, centuries-old symbol of Venice and the company, the “Torino” by Arduino, the Gaggia Montecarlo and the first understated FAEMA logo with the snake under Milan Cathedral inside which the coffee machine is forged. In 1958 Universal proposed even a choice of ceramic plates depicting typical Italian landscapes.

The lever machines became genuine jewels, and were marketed as such: in 1950, for example, La Cimbali presented its new Gioiello at Milan Trade Fair encased in a jewellery box which further emphasised the machine’s precious design when opened. The multifaceted bodywork and sophisticated details became striking elements that would soon be synonymous with “cream coffee”.

Carlo Ernesto Valente, founder of FAEMA, passionate about astronomy, expressed this passion in the machines' names. Saturno, the most imposing and important, Mars with futuristic lines, Venus with delicate features and Urania, which stood out for its aesthetics and functionality, anticipate the uniqueness of E61, dedicated to the last total eclipse of the sun visible in Italy in 1961, and soon recognised as a technological and aesthetic style icon in the espresso coffee firmament.

The economic boom and optimism of the 1950s and 1960s can be tasted in bars, where coffee becomes a ritual not only of passage but of meeting, confrontation, relationships under the banner of dynamism, pragmatism and extemporaneity. Espresso machines towered over the counters, vying for attention with the juke-box, the pinball machine, the billiard table, the pack of cards.

FAEMA was founded as Fabbrica Apparecchiature Elettromeccaniche e Affini (Electromechanical and Related Equipment Factory). Before producing coffee machines, the company manufactured toasters, hairdresser hoods, juicers, ice crushers, blenders, vacuum cleaners, hair dryers and floor polishers. After it began producing coffee grinders, bar counters, espresso ice cream machines, coolers, air conditioners, ice makers, water heaters and jukeboxes. In short, a veritable ‘concerto’ of products! 

In the 1960s, coffee machines were enhanced with increasingly sophisticated workmanship: from the fluid shapes of new polymers to the use of smooth, polished materials such as stainless steel, to the honeycomb processing of sheet metal. In 1969 FAEMA presented the Prestige and Metodo models with one of the first plastic bodies for espresso machines: the Makrolon® modular panel structure was available in different colours and could easily be detached to carry out maintenance.

Pitagora is the only coffee machine to win the aspired design award Compasso d'Oro and the reasons given still resonate today: “the Pitagora machine [...] testifies to a conscious effort to rationalise and simplify the use and maintenance of the tool, and to use of a new material in this specific field for the bodywork [...]. The overall results are therefore notable, particularly considering the responsibility involved in designing a product for general consumption”

Firstly electromechanics enabled the first fully-automatic machines to brew coffee at the push of a button; then the introduction of electronics made the machines easier to use while guaranteeing high levels of precision, making Italian espresso a household name all over the world. During Dolcevita coffee machines also introduced innovations that permitted total automation, ensuring consistently excellent results and quality and contributing to the spread of espresso culture around the world. 

Made in Italy is a blend of tradition and innovation, where the best of the past is revived and combined with the best of the present to create the future. The epitome of typical Italian elegance and artisanship, the new professional coffee machines maximise the sensory experience and offer infinite ways of personalising the beverages and the images viewed during their preparation, guaranteeing a unique experience.

The machines once again occupy pride of place on bar counters and new coffee specialists dialogue in detail with increasingly informed customers. Quality coffee espresso becomes a new cult at home just as at the bar.