Art & Caffeine is the first flagship store of Faema, the legendary Milanese coffee machine brand. It’s a creative meeting space for discussing and sharing everything to do with coffee culture. The space has been created by the renovation of a warehouse in a small industrial zone in via Forcella thatarose between 1891 and 1931 along the Milan– Vigevano railway line. In addition to housing a longestablished bicycle company, the warehouse had previously mainly been used for roasting coffee. The warehouse’s restoration involved the careful recovery of the nineteenth-century riveted steel structures and the brick walls with lime plaster. These were integrated into a modern structure of exposed systems, designed to give prominence to the coffee machines and the visitors’ experience. Art&Caffeine is a multiple space in which repair-shop activities of fixing and customizing coffee machines, coffee roasting, coffee workshops and reception and co-working activities all coexist in synergy.

The renovation deliberately makes use of “raw” materials in line with those originally used in the nineteenth-century factory: charred larch floors, rough-iron display structures and stencil graphics on the walls. “Light” was the main material used in the initiative aimed at making the most of the operational areas. It was manipulated in various scenarios to adapt it to the natural exterior light and hallmark the experience, linked to the different uses of the space. Beams of cool light pick out the stainless steel surfaces of the Faema espresso machines, while warm, diffuse lights bathe the work surfaces and cup racks. The warehouse’s antique walls are lit with a grazing, changing light that is integrated into the floor to highlight the textures of the old plastered brick walls, and to be able to vary the way the space is perceived depending on the activities in progress. The flagship store, the first in the world in the morethan- 70-year history of the Gruppo Cimbali brand, is intended primarily for baristas and others involved in the world of coffee. However, it will also be open to the public during the major events that every year make Milan the capital of design (Design Week), food (Food Week) and fashion (Fashion Week), as well as during other important initiatives scheduled to take place in the city.

Coffee is seen the world over as being synonymous with Italy, and it is also no secret that it was Venice that imported the famous beverage into Europe in the second half of the 16th century. In fact, it was in that very city that the first Caffé, or coffee house, was opened, as a place for socialising while you drank your coffee. In subsequent centuries, these coffee houses became more important, developing into centres for cultural and political discourse, until they became what they are today: meeting places for conversation and sharing, in a true coffee culture. One such place is the new Art & Caffeine, the first flagship store of Faema, the legendary Milanese brand that produces professional coffee and cappuccino machines.

The space, in the Tortona area of Milan, has been created by the renovation of an old warehouse in a small industrial zone in via Forcella that arose between 1891 and 1931 along the Milan–Vigevano railway line. Suitably enough, in addition to housing a long-established bicycle company, the warehouse had previously mainly been used for roasting coffee beans. The zone has come back into vogue thanks to the artists, creatives and stylists who, with their showrooms and exhibition spaces, have brought new vitality to a neighbourhood that combines fashion, design and the arts.

The warehouse’s restoration involved the careful recovery of the nineteenth-century riveted steel structures and the lime-plastered brick walls. These were integrated into a modern structure of exposed systems, designed to give prominence to the coffee machines and the visitors’ experience. Art & Caffeine accommodates diverse activities happening in synergy, such as the repair-shop work of fixing and customising coffee machines, coffee roasting, coffee workshops, and reception and co-working activities. The entire project, the work of the traverso-vighy architetti architectural practice, has seen the deliberate use of “raw” materials in line with those originally used in the nineteenth-century factory: raised floors in charred larch, rough-iron display structures and stencil graphics on the walls. And all enriched by the element of light, the project’s main material, used to enhance the different operational areas. It has been manipulated in various ways to adapt it to the natural exterior light and hallmark people’s experience of the space’s different uses. Beams of cool light pick out the stainless steel surfaces of the Faema espresso machines, while warm, diffuse lights bathe the work surfaces and cup racks.

The nineteenth-century shell has been highlighted with a special system of grazing light to bring out the morphology and textures of the old, lime-plastered brick walls. To achieve this, a professional lighting system with vertical emission and dynamic colour was integrated into the perimeter of the new raised floor: the Neva 5 linear profile, RGB, 15° and 30 W, by L&L Luce&Light.

The flagship store, the very first in the more-than-70-year history of the Gruppo Cimbali brand, is intended primarily for baristas and others involved in the world of coffee. However, it will also be open to the public during the major events that every year make Milan the capital of design (Design Week), food (Food Week) and fashion (Fashion Week), as well as during other important events scheduled to take place in the city.