Time Mirror: 25 years of Gaggia automatic machines

TIME MIRROR – between past and present, 25 years of Gaggia automatic machines, celebrated by Alessandro Gottardo

To celebrate 25 years of Gaggia’s consistent presence in the world of the superautomatic coffee machines, the company engaged a famous Italian illustrator, characterized by a surreal and elegant storytelling style: Alessandro Gottardo, aka Shout. The idea was to describe how the approach to the coffee experience with a fully automatic machine changed over time, underlining the strong bond between yesterday and today. This path is walked by two recognizable characters: a dog and a modern home barista, strolling together in the past and the present dimension.

Who is Alessandro Gottardo

Alessandro Gottardo, also known as Shout, is one of the most appreciated and renowned Italian illustrators, known worldwide. Born in Pordenone (Italy) in 1977, Shout began his educational path at the Liceo Artistico of Venice, and then specialized in Illustration at the European Institute for Design (IED) in Milan. His career is constellated by prestigious collaborations with some globally famous newspapers and magazines, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, TIME, Esquire, Newsweek, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Le Monde, e The Economist.

The distinctive element of Shout’s style is a refined surrealism he expresses through the use of light tones, suffused atmospheres, speaking “chiaroscuro”, able to evoke deep emotions with simple traits. This ability to reduce visual elements to a minimum while maintaining an intense expressive charge makes his works immediately recognizable and meaningful. His illustrations are often rich with visual metaphors that stimulate the observer to think, analyzing complex topics with lightness and depth at the same time.

Besides the international success, Shout kept a strong link with the Italian editorial scene, collaborating with Internazionale and with the editorial house Minimum Fax. Among his publications we find “C’era una voce”, one of his most significant contributions to Italian publishing. His artworks are collected in volumes such as “Monoshout”, that offers an overview on his work and on his most important collaborations.

The illustration for Gaggia

TIME MIRROR is the name of the illustration that presents two images, reflecting one in the other one as if they were in front of a mirror.

In the lower part, as the representation of the past, the first automatic machine launched in 1999 by Gaggia: Syncrony DIGITAL. That marked the beginning of a new way to make coffee at home: it was automatic, extremely easy and for everybody. In fact, in the advertising page there were a dog (the beagle that we can see now in the illustration!), a cup of espresso, a newspaper and this sentence “To make coffee is easy. The difficult thing is to flip pages!”. Everybody could make coffee, in just one click.

Together with the unforgettable Syncrony DIGITAL, in the past we find some recognizable elements, typical of those years: the sugar bowl – that you could find also at a cafè – a cordless telephone with its big buttons and a small display, a blender, a milk carton.

On the strong roots deepened in the past, the present life flows. As an asymmetric reflection, the contemporaneity of 2024 with the latest Gaggia fully automatic machine: Accademia. From a strong automatism, to the extreme simplicity to the customer need to be more present in the user experience, with higher customization and a wider range of available beverages to get.

Next to Accademia, Shout draws a changed world. The old fridge is now substituted by a new modern one, the cordless gave its place to a smartphone, the milk carton is a glass bottle, and, just as new skyscrapers, new beverages: American coffee, latte macchiato, …

The surroundings evolve and so does Gaggia, while keeping its bond with tradition, and with the drink that started everything, and that is today fundamental for the company: the Italian espresso.
In fact, we can find an espresso cup both in the past and in the present. Two different eras separated by a timeline on which a man – the home barista – and his lovely dog walk together. They cross time and values, pleasures, novelties and roots.

A continuously evolving tradition, just like Gaggia.