In the 1920s, the brothers Camillo, Cezaro and Alfonso Bialetti produced household items in their workshops in northern Italy. Alfonso’s son Renato took over the family business and industrialized the…

In the 1920s, the brothers Camillo, Cezaro and Alfonso Bialetti produced household items in their workshops in northern Italy. Alfonso’s son Renato took over the family business and industrialized the production of espresso pots in the early 1950s, selling around 300 million of them worldwide. The controversial entrepreneur kept making new versions of his product to beat the competition and showed little interest in keeping records, prototypes and other archive material. Faced with this gap, the artist David Bergé started to collect Bialetti pots in the area around the former factory, at flea markets and in flagship stores. With this book, Bergé presents his idea of a possible Bialetti catalog. It provides an insight into the precision mechanical manufacturing processes, drawing on the voices of members of the industrial family as well as those of former factory workers, secretaries and trade union representatives. Bialetti, an icon of the 20th century that is no longer to be found in every kitchen.