Fall In Love with the Illy Contemporary Art Collection 2025

Throughout every lifetime of people, it seems we humans fear change. We first faced automation and industrialisation. Frightened, we would go blind by going on a motorised train or car. We also worried that machinery would take over our world and make us of no use. What jobs would be left, and would we need people like artists and creators any more if mechanics could do it all for us? Nothing new here then with the advent of things like the superpower of computers and AI, new technology, machinery, and even artificial intelligence can aid us, not just making our lives easier but helping bring new ideas that were previously impossible, and so in many ways, creatively, it feels far less limited. At the recent Frieze Art Show 2025 in London, much in the way of creativity was obviously aided by technology. It’s a real freedom giver, and the new Art Cups by Italian coffee makers illy prove the point. Read all bout it here in Fall In Love with the illy Contemporary Art Collection 2025

The Coffee Bean

Coffee drinking is thought to have started in Ethiopia around the 15th century, and spread to the Arabian Peninsula, where it was developed into a brewed drink.  Later, it was introduced to Europe in the 17th century and to the Americas, and so coffee became a worldwide love affair.

Italian Coffee

Italy’s strong link to coffee is rooted in its history, starting with the introduction of coffee through Venetian trade in the 16th century, and in that century, the Pope ordered that it was good to drink, cementing it into Italian culture

Coffee Houses

This led to the development of coffeehouses as social hubs. Coffee houses began opening in Venice and quickly became popular gathering spots for intellectuals and artists. This relationship was further cemented by Italy’s invention of the espresso machine in the late 19th century, which revolutionised preparation and established coffee, especially espresso, as an integral and ritualistic part of daily Italian life and culture. 

The illy history

in 1933 an Italian gentleman (of Hungarian descent), Francesco Illy, founded illycaffè, and began to revolutionise coffee preparation. It started with the invention of the illetta in 1935, which is considered the blueprint for modern espresso machines. In the 1940s, his innovative pressurised packaging method enabled Illy’s initial exports.

‘If coffee is experienced with all five senses, the very objects that hold coffee should please the eye’

This concept led to a consideration of how an everyday object like a coffee cup could be rethought and elevated to meld the sensory pleasures of coffee and art.

The fusion of Art and coffee may sound like an unusual collaboration, but as far

as brands and artists meeting together on creative events illy were early to the game. The illy Art Collection started in 1992, when Francesco Illy launched the project to collaborate with artists and designers on the cups. The collection began with the iconic white espresso cup, designed by renowned architect and designer Matteo Thun.

The pure white cups have now become a beautiful blank canvas for artists to explore, to shape and colour, texture and feel and of course mark them with creative passion and then to become iconic collectors’ items to cherish.

Since its inception, international contemporary artists from Ai Weiwei to Jeff Koons have re-interpreted the blank canvas of the iconic illy cup. The illy Art Collection now represents one of the largest collections of contemporary art in the world.

2025 illy Art Collection

For this year’s cups, the house launched them at Frieze London. In a space full of shapes, colours, textures and materials, it was the perfect location for the announcement and presentation of this year’s set by John Armleder.

John Armleder, Swiss Artist, Painter, and Sculptor

His work is based on his involvement with Fluxusan (interdisciplinary artist community) in the 1960s and 1970s, when he created performance art pieces, installations, and collective art activities that were strongly influenced by John Cage. However, he does choose to avoid being associated with specific practice or art manifestos.

He represented Switzerland at the Venice Biennale, and his work is held in the permanent collections of numerous museums. As well, he co-founded the Groupe Ecart in Geneva, a movement that introduced Switzerland and wider Europe to notable contemporary artists, including Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys. 

His work challenges the conventions between art and everyday objects, and he is known for his fascination with glitter balls and reflective surfaces, which is clearly evident through the use of glitter and disco ball-inspired elements in his sculptures and paintings. He creates installations that incorporate mirrored surfaces, like mirrored acrylic and stainless steel spheres, to evoke the effect of a disco ball.  Seeing these surfaces as part of our everyday it’s no surprise to see him as an obvious candidate for the illy Art Collection.

The two sizes of cups, espresso and cappuccino, created by the artist come in four metallic, iridescence and chrome colours, Black, Silver, Gold and white.

Drawing on mirrored surfaces, metallic chrome and iridescent reflections, the collection recalls one of Armleder’s most emblematic motifs, the disco ball, turning the act of drinking coffee into a play of perception and transformation. 

The surface pattern goes far deeper than first noticed. A process that was developed and watched by the creative head of the project.

A new way of attaching iridescent coatings has been invented, and knowing this, Carlo Bach the Art Director at illycaffè, felt this was a process really worth investing in for his collections.

Simply put, the cups go onto a machine where all the air is sucked out. The dye is ‘shot’ into the space and sticks to every surface available, coating the cups in a titanium coating that, on black and white, gives this ‘opal’ effect. A similar process is used here for the gold and silver cups.

Mr Bach tells how much his job is (to his delight) searching for new techniques and how technology really allows for the expansion of creativity, allowing things to be done that were simply never possible before.

This type of commitment to excellence means illy can work with the most distinguished of artists. But it’s not only the shimmer finish that makes this season’s cups so special.

The saucer is ‘picked’ and textured to give a patterned finish. This finish then reflects back onto the cup, setting off the illusion of a Disco Ball to complete the story by John Armleder.

illys commitment to art is a great reason to be involved with the House; they are also a fully B Corp® certified, since 2021 and have been included in the list of the World’s Most Ethical Companies, compiled annually by the Ethisphere Institute.

The everyday ritual of a cup of coffee becomes a celebratory disco moment this season. Armleder’s vision for illy brings joy, irreverence to this ritual we often take for granted. Art meets taste in the most beautiful coexistence. Art, after all, is not just for Art’s sake but to raise our spirits and make our days more joyful, so shouldn’t the everyday rituals be honoured in the best, more elegant, dynamic and celebratory ways? One of John Armleder’s collections will help us all to sparkle and shimmer and enjoy the moment.

Find all about the company’s commitment to art here at www.illy.com and the 2025 Collection byJohn Armleder for illy here

If you enjoyed reading Fall In Love with the Illy Contemporary Art Collection 2025, then why not read Numbers In Colour here

.Cent Magazine London. Luxury Mindset