Which is more important, the coffee you drink or the cup you drink it from? The choice is a difficult one for any aesthete to make, and it is only highlighted and intensified by famed Italian coffeemaker illycaff , which, since 1933, has been producing one of the world's greatest espressos, and which, since 1992, has been commissioning limited-edition coffee cup designs from internationally renowned and emerging artists, musicians, and filmmakers. If the story of the coffee begins with Francesco Illy in Trieste, the story of the cup begins in 1990 with architect and engineer Matteo Thun, who designed a white espresso cup to the exacting specifications of the Illy family. The volume and diameter had to be just so, the rim had to accept resting lips in a most practical manner, and the all-important bowl at the bottom of the cup had to conserve heat effectively. Once the prototype was approved, the family set about having it transformed with original work by the likes of Sandro Chia, Nam June Paik, James Rosenquist, Robert Rauschenberg, David Byrne, Francis Ford Coppola, Joseph Kosuth, Jeff Koons, Marina Abramovic, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Michel Comte, Jannis Kounellis, and Louise Bourgeois. Good to the last drop--unless coffee isn't your cup of tea.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A must for any ILLY COLLECTION fan.,
This review is from: Illy Collection (Italian Edition) (Hardcover)
Illy to some is the best coffee in the world, I can't say that since I have not tasted them all but I do love Illy, especially their espresso pods, but Illy is more than just coffee, they represent the most advanced and yet the most simple of pleasures... and their cup embodies that. This book is all about that, It covers the creation and a good decade's worth of artisitic varatations on the Illy cup.
I have been bitten by the Illy Collection bug and own a few of the sets, it's nice to have this book as a guide to the "expensive" past. The only problem is that the collection is only through 2003, so it is missing the 2004/2005 cups. Espresso has never been so stylish!
0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Pictures only with no content issues.,
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This review is from: Illy Collection (Italian Edition) (Hardcover)
The title of this book is really appealing, but I found this book to be a superficial coffee table book. There is no thought provoking commentary or essay which could place the "cup" within a social context or place the cup with a material culture.
The color prints are on matt paper which makes the images seem a little dull and fuzzy. Not one cups seems to jump off the page and into my memory. Adding to my disappointment is that every cup appears to be the same size and shape. The decoration or embellishment on the cups is only on the surface. It seems that the artists, writer, musicians, architects, etc., that are featured in the book, were only asked to offer a graphic design to a standard demitasse cup. Why couldn't they change the shape or form of the cup? How disappointing! The idea behind the book is great, the execution is boring and limited. I would not recommend buying this book. Harriete Estel Berman
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