Two particularly interesting examples of this aspect of Alessi are the coffee makers – “9090” by Richard Sapper and “La Conica” by Aldo Rossi – of which we present two unpublished “laboratory proofs” from our archives. The first is a version with a perforated and coloured handle imagined by the German designer to limit the conduction of heat during the preparation of coffee. The second has a long lateral handle, like the antique cuccume (coffee pots) that often recur in the designs of the Milanese designer. - Alberto Alessi

"Perhaps observing things was the most important part of my formal education; then that observation turned into a memory of these things. Now it's as if I can see them all arranged like tools in a neat row; lined up like they're in a herbarium, in a list, in a dictionary. But this list, part imagined part remembered, is not neutral. It always comes back to certain objects and also constitutes their deformation or, somehow, their evolution”. - Aldo Rossi

With a refined interplay of pure volumes, Aldo Rossi has given us a remarkable object that has made history. This version of La Conica was the first conceived by the designer: an icon of the twentieth century, design restored to its original form, with an elegant and modern look.

“I wanted to give this coffee machine features that others don’t have, such as the ability to open it and wash it with one hand. I wanted to make better use of the heat, which is why it widens at the base. I didn't want to make a plastic handle because sooner or later, they all end up burning and then you throw the coffee machine away. I wanted to make a machine that didn't look like a coffeemaker... an espresso machine like that isn’t a coffeemaker: it’s a little steam engine!”. - Richard Sapper

A version of the iconic 9090 coffee maker that pays tribute to the genius of its creator. By presenting itself to the public, with a handle he designed and which never produced before. The perforated handle, to increase heat dispersion, is a detail that is as functional as it is aesthetically expressive. The red colour was to highlight the mobile and intersecting elements of Richard Sapper's designs.