Alfonso Bialetti and his family in the early 1930s. Right — eldest son of Renato, who would later head the family business

1919

After World War I, Alfonso Bialetti returned to Crusinallo, his hometown, from France. After working for ten years in the French aluminum industry, he founded his own company in Italy that produced aluminum products for the home: Alfonso Bialetti & C. Fonderia

Metal boiler for boiling and washing clothes

Near his workshop, some women were boiling linens in a closed cauldron with a small hollow tube in the center. When heated, the soapy water rose from the bottom of the boiler up through the tube and spread evenly over the linen. Bialetti was curious and decided to apply this simple principle of physics to coffee making

This small but important change made it possible to replace a bulky and complex restaurant espresso machine with an inexpensive household coffee maker, thereby making coffee much more accessible to most Italian families

1933

The geyser-type coffee maker with the famous octagonal shape was created and subsequently patented by Alfonso Bialetti and the Italian inventor Luigi de Ponti in 1933. Just as it is today, the coffee maker consisted of three parts: a lower tank to heat water, a filter funnel for ground coffee, and the upper area where the finished coffee enters

At the same time, major manufacturers of espresso machines, such as La Pavia, Cremonesi, and Gaggia were also experimenting with steam pressure in their inventions. But they focused on expensive and large machines made of brass, copper, and steel

The «mother» of all Moka, the original prototype. The first items were made of aluminum with bakelite handles

At the same time, coffee was becoming increasingly popular and consumption was on the rise. In the mid-1930s, Italy invaded Ethiopia, a country that was a major producer of coffee beans. Despite the subsequent post-invasion economic sanctions by the League of Nations, both Ethiopia and Brazil continued to supply Italy with coffee beans

The success of the Bialetti device was based not only on the high speed of preparation and the quality of the taste, but also on the importance that aluminum had acquired in Italy in the 1930s.

At the time, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini imposed an embargo on foreign stainless steel for ideological and commercial reasons. Italy had rich deposits of aluminum ore bauxite, which was designated a «national metal»

The slogan for the first advertising campaign of the Bialetti factory was «In casa un espresso come al bar», which means «In the house, espresso just like the bar».

This coffee maker was created partly in response to the challenging economic times many Italians were experiencing. They could no longer afford to go to coffee shops to enjoy their favorite espresso

THE WARS

STARTED

AND BIALETTI

WAS FORCED

HIS

FACTORY

НО НАЧАЛАСЬ ВОЙНА.
И БИАЛЕТТИ
БЫЛ ВЫНУЖДЕН ЗАКРЫТЬ
СВОЮ ФАБРИКУ

TO CLOSE

HOWEVER,

The new Moka Express model was a reference. Patent Nº 34833, 1950-1951

Sculpture Moka Express made of aluminum — Bialetti advertising used at the 1954 Milan Trade Fair

Renato Bialetti started producing coffee makers on an industrial scale, and launched an active marketing campaign using outdoor advertising, radio, newspapers, and magazines

1950

Renato Bialetti, mid 1950s

Illustrated instructions for use from the Bialetti factory

To protect the Moka Express coffee maker from possible imitations, in 1953 Alfonso Bialetti came up with the clever idea of  ​putting a drawing of a «mustachioed Little Man» by artist Paul Campani on the front. There are rumors within the company that the image is a caricature of Alfonso himself, but archival photographs have established a certain resemblance to his son, Renato Bialetti

1953

To protect the Moka Express coffee maker from possible imitations, in 1953 Alfonso Bialetti came up with the clever idea of  ​putting a drawing of a «mustachioed Little Man» by artist Paul Campani on the front. There are rumors within the company that the image is a caricature of Alfonso himself, but archival photographs have established a certain resemblance to his son, Renato Bialetti

1953

Bialetti advertising campaign in newspapers, magazines, and on TV

At the peak of its production, Bialetti produced 18,000 coffee makers a day. The factory produced 4 million Moka Express per year. A three-cup coffee maker at that time cost 1,100 Italian lire, which is roughly US$16.50 or €15.45 at today’s rates

1986

Renato Bialetti died in 2016, but in 1986 he had already sold the company to Faema, which in turn sold it to the tableware manufacturer Rondine Italia in 1993. In 1998, Bialetti and Rondine merged to become Bialetti Industrie

Bialetti fell into debt worth €68 million, as demand for geyser coffee makers went into decline

2018

BANKRUPTCY

Moka Express является постоянным экспонатом таких музеев, как:

Музей современного искусства МОМА (Нью-Йорк)

Смитсоновский национальный музей дизайна (Нью-Йорк)

Музей науки (Лондон)

Музей дизайна (Лондон)

Moka Express занесена в Книгу рекордов Гиннесса как самая популярная кофеварка в мире.

Moka Express была признана одним из символов Италии — около 90% итальянских семей владеют и пользуются кофеваркой Bialetti.

Moka Express is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most popular coffee maker in the world

Moka Express is recognized as one of the symbols of Italy. About 90% of Italian families own and use a Bialetti coffee maker

IN 2018, THE COMPANY DECLARED THAT IT WAS ON THE VERGE OF
THE INCREDIBLE POPULARITY OF TRENDY CAPSULE MACHINES WAS THE REASON

Moka Express has permanent exhibits in the following museums:

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (New York)

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (New York)

Science Museum (London)

The Design Museum (London)

Awards

© 2022
Project author Kate Gonchar
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