Bialetti: A Catalogue

In the 1920s, in Northern Italy, the brothers Camillo, Cezaro and Alfonso Bialetti produced in their workshops aluminum household equipment. Renato Bialetti, son of Alfonso, appropriated the family brand, industrialized the production of stovetop coffee makers in the early 1950s, and sold roughly 300 million pots worldwide. Producing clones of his produc to beat competitors, the controversial entrepreneur Renato Bialetti did not deem keeping records, prototypes, or archives necessary. In this void, artist David Bergé began gathering Bialetti machines near the factory in ruins, at second-hand markets, and in flagship stores. This book is Bergé’s proposal of a Bialetti catalogue. It provides insights into the production process of a piece of precision engineering, nourished by the voices of members of the industrialist’s family, as well as former factory workers, and union representatives: Bialetti, a twentieth century icon, no longer part of every kitchen today.

The publication is sponsored by: The Museum of Anthropocene Technology (MAT), Flanders State of the Art, Platform 0090, Design Museum Ghent, and Photographic Expanded Publishing Athens. David Bergé, artist, lives in Athens and Brussels. His works are invitations to the public to participate in a journey in the form of hybrid and post-digital formats, silent «walk pieces», time-based installations and writing projects (in spoken and written form).