The postwar years in Europe and America seemed obsessed with ‘the atomic age’. Driven by both science fiction and science fact, along with a growing optimism that the future would be nuclear, many designers in the late 1940′s and throughout the 1950′s drew their inspiration from idea of the atom and nuclei. This inspired many classic furniture designs which featured spindly steel legs capped off with ball feet (representing the atom) and many other linear or globular features. Nothing was spared from atomic inspiration as toys and games, furnishings, fabrics and even kitchen ware was given the atomic treatment.
Few designs embody the atomic age more than the Atomic coffee machine designed by the Italian Giordano Robbiati. This ultra modern coffee maker was ergonomic, sculptural and with its aluminum body was totally state-of-the-art. The Atomic is a stove top coffee pot based on the Italian coffee pot, or moka pot where the water is poured in the lower chamber and when heated is forced through a basket containing the ground coffee and into the top chamber. The Atomic took the science from the moka pot and made it sexy. These days the Atomic coffee machine is one of the most sought after coffee makers from the atomic era.
The design of the Atomic changed slightly from the 1940′s to the 1950′s, the later model being more rounded and bulbous than the original. This rounder design was manufactured from the 1950′s right up to 1986 when the factory closed. The classic polished aluminum finish was by far the most popular. However the 1960′s and 1970′s saw the introduction of a brown and also an orange enameled version of these iconic coffee makers being produced. Unlike the moka pot, which had been in the kitchen for some 20 years, the Atomic was much easier to clean than other coffee machines and with the addition of a frothing wand some years after the original design really won the public over as this stove top espresso machine could make cappuccino too.
The Atomic coffee machine was manufactured in Italy for some four decades and modern reproductions are available, although not cheap! Finding one of the original Atomic coffee machines could be a task in itself as companies based in the USA, UK, Austria and Australia manufactured their re-branded versions; some even featured a pressure gauge. Which of these iconic coffee makers are considered original and which aren’t is open to debate as most date from the fifties and sixties. At the end of the day it’s the design and functionality which matters most, so even a modern reproduction will look just a good as any of the classic Atomic coffee machines.