NEW YORK, March 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On the heels of New York Fashion Week, illy caffè launches its latest illy Art Collection featuring designs purposed for fabrics in the 1930s by Gillo Dorfles, a well-known Italian artist and art critic, whose work is currently being celebrated through a major retrospective at the MACRO Museum in Rome, Italy until March 13, 2016.
Dorfles is a Trieste-born artist also known for his academic background in sociology and aesthetics. His inspiration for the cup collection comes from several fabric designs transferred to paper between 1937 and 1940 using the egg oil tempera emulsion technique – an approach used long ago by the great fifteenth-century masters. For Dorfles, they served as a starting point for playful experimentation.
The new illy Art Collection can be characterized by repetition of graphical elements and a reinterpretation of archetypical signs incorporating the form and colors of Dorfles' imaginative universe, which continue to serve as the hallmark of his poetics and now a reference point in transforming the coffee break into a complete aesthetic experience that restores just the right balance to our existential place in this world.
This collaboration between the artist and illy caffè has developed out of a deep-rooted sharing of values and visions. The close relationship goes beyond sharing the same hometown of Trieste; it is, above all, a matter of sharing the same Mitteleuropean cultural horizons. Gillo Dorfles has been involved with emerging forms of expression and has focused his farsighted gaze on the future present of the Arts in the same way that illy has always courageously supported emerging talent, embracing expressions of contemporary art.
Trieste, Italy in the 17th century was one of the Adriatic port towns which served as the gateway to coffee culture, which included coffee houses that where an epicenter of ideas. Since 1933, the Illy family has been roasting coffee in Trieste and continues to transport its legacy of ingenuity, art and culture from its hometown.
The Gillo Dorfles illy Art Collection consists of 4 cup espresso set and 4 cup cappuccino set signed and numbered. The cups are available for purchase online at www.illyusa.com and at illycaffè coffee bars and shops.
Pricing:
4 cup espresso set for $95.00
4 cup capp. set for $125.00
illy Art Collection
The illy Art Collection, a series of coffee cups by artists that the Trieste-based company has produced since 1992, is the clearest expression of the illycaffé connection to contemporary art. Some of the most prominent contemporary masters on the international art scene, along with emerging young talents, have transformed the everyday coffee cup – in this case the white porcelain lily cup introduced by the architect and designer Matteo Thun – into a cult object. From Michelangelo Pistoletto to Marina Abramović, Anish Kapoor to Daniel Buren, Robert Rauschenberg to Jeff Koons, Jan Fabre to James Rosenquist, Jannis Kounellis to Julian Schnabel, Louise Bourgeois to William Kentridge, more than 70 contemporary artists so far have contributed designs for the collection and formed close collaborative relationships with illy that develop along with their own artistic and cultural projects. The illy Art Collection, signed, limited and numbered, is on sale all over the world, in cafés, stores that distribute illy products and at www.illy.com. Once they sell out, the items are not reproduced.
About illycaffè
illycaffè was founded in Trieste, Italy in 1933 and is headquartered there today; the privately held company manufactures and markets a unique blend of 100% Arabica coffee and is the leading brand in premium quality coffee sector. The U.S. headquarters are in Rye Brook, New York. Nearly 7 million cups of illy coffee are consumed daily throughout the world, and the brand is sold in more than 140 countries and served in over 100,000 of the world's finest restaurants, cafés and hotels in addition to 230 monobrand illy shops/cafés across 43 countries. Based on partnerships underpinned by the principles of sustainable development, illy purchases green coffee beans directly from growers of the highest quality Arabica and has long-term relationships with the world's best growers in Brazil, Central America, India and Africa, sharing know-how and technology and paying higher than market prices for its coffee In 1999, the company established the Coffee University with a mission to foster and spread the culture of coffee; this center of excellence operates today in more than 20 countries; provides comprehensive academic and hands-on training for coffee growers, café owners, baristas and enthusiasts covering every aspect of the product. Approximately 1,084 official staff work for illy, and in 2014 the company posted consolidated revenues of €391 million. www.illy.com
Press Contact:
Adam Paige
illy caffè North America
[email protected]
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160301/339329
SOURCE illycaffe
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