Unusual partnerships aren’t novel to the design industry. Fashion brands collaborate with furniture makers, while automotive companies get in the kitchen. Regardless of the industry, though, the results have always been unique and fascinating. The latest is a custom espresso machine. Copenhagen fashion brand Heliot Emil joined hands with Scandinavian café chain Joe & The Juice to redesign La Marzocco Linea Mini into a brutalist masterpiece. It is the Cybertruck of espresso machines, if you will.
This is not the first design modification to La Marzocco espresso machines. We have seen one of them transform into a sports car engine, while another inspired by Porsche’s graphics and details. The latest custom iteration, which was premiered at the recently concluded Paris Men’s Fashion Week, the Linea Mini has been translated through the lens of Helio Emil’s Scandinavian industrial aesthetic, giving it a brutal, sculptural quality.
The machine forgoes stark lines, harsh angles, and flat surfaces in favor of a curved body; as Sprudge so humorously points out, “there’s not a single vertical line on the whole damn thing.” While the tops of most machines function as a depository for cups, this custom brutalist Linea Mini stands on its own, uncrowded and uncluttered.
This brutalist machine strips away unnecessary details, including the cup stacking, piles of lids, and spare bag of beans. It gives you nowhere obvious to rest a coffee cup, remarks Man of Many, which may deter some users. The lack of a place where you can set down your coffee cup encourages you to savor the freshly brewed coffee while it is still hot.
Heliot Emil says the shape is intentional to force interaction with the beverage. The brand’s Instagram post read, “Espresso has a window. Two, maybe three minutes before the crema breaks and the temperature drops, before it stops being the coffee it was. The machine is built to protect that window. The shape is built to make sure you do not waste it. With nowhere to set the cup, you stay with the coffee for the only minutes it is truly perfect. We designed a moment to get the best out of your espresso.”
The housing is developed and machined by Madrid-based fabrication studio CALIPER. Built like armor, the custom Heliot Emil La Marzocco comes with adjustment knobs and a drainage tray, enhancing your brewing experience. Featuring dual boilers and PID temperature, a two-valve pre-infusion, and a group head, every part of the machine holds the shot at its peak.
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It comes engraved with the names of the brands, along with the numbers 07, 13, 25, and 34, representing Heliot Emil’s design pillars. The sleek industrial silhouette of the custom Linea Mini is perfect for a bachelor’s pad.
Whether you like it or hate it, this is, without a doubt, one of the coolest, most unique, and out-of-the-box espresso machine customizations. While we have no word on the pricing and availability of the Heliot Emil custom La Marzocco Linea Mini in partnership with Joe & The Juice, something like this, with its Cybertruck aesthetics, will definitely come at a premium tag.
