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history of the illy & amici colletion site Collecting illy and espresso cups is a wonderful hobby. I started it in the very beginning when the first set was released. Many years and many cups followed and in November 2000 I started the illy and amici collection site. Over the years I talked to people from illy, I mailed with other collectors all over the world and I kept up with the information on the internet. For the 5th year celebration of the site in 2005 I decided to give it an up-date and reconstruction. I do not pretend to know everything about illy and amici cups, but below you will find some information that might be useful. Beside that, in the  section you
will find a lot of information and pictures concerning the cups too. story of the cup 
In 1990 Matteo Thun was asked to design a new espresso cup. This resulted in the well
known shape of the espresso cup that is used by illy today.
Francesco Illy, being an art lover, must have thought that a new cup with the illy logo
was not enough and that it might be a good idea to combine two pleasures in life, espresso and art.
The idea to decorate the new espresso cup was born.
A little later the Company of Matteo Thun was asked
to decorate the first cup. This resulted in a prototype,
named "NAÏF".Beside a standard logo cup, the first illy collection set "Arti e mestieri" was introduced in 1992. The cups were designed by Illy himself and five other "artists". In 1993 another "Arti e mestieri" was made, again by several artists. However this was the first time that the cups were signed and numbered. The cappuccino cup was introduced in 1994. The cup had the same shape but came in a larger measurement. Andrea Manetti decorated this first series of six cappuccino cups and he named it "Braccia, arti, piedi, parti". The same year Luca Trazzi decorated the Trazzine set and for the first time the saucers were decorated too. 
In 1996 James Rosenquist was asked to design the Italian Riviera
set. Besides decorating this Riviera set, he also designed the
new illy logo. 
To promote illycaffè Medium Grind coffee for Drip Coffeemakers, illy introduced the mug mainly for
the USA market in 2003. The first two illy collection mugs were decorated by
James Rosenquist. He named them "Flowers ideas".
Later on they were followed by designs by Koons and Schnabel
In 2005 "Serse" was released. No cups this time, but glasses! To
launch "illy freddo" (cold espresso), a glass set was designed again by Matteo Thun and decorated by Serse Roma.
In the book "illy collection: 10 anni di tazze d'artista" you can see an overview of many "illy
collection" cups that were released between 1992 and 2002. It shows pictures
of the cups and gives background information on the artists. In the brochures that come
with the illy collection sets you can find an overview of most of the cups too.
Please note that not all the cups can be found in the book and the brochures.
Many unlisted cups can be found in this section."illy collection" versus "amici collection" Amici is the name illy uses in Switzerland. In 1933 Illy was founded by Francesco Illycaffè in Italy, but in 1939 another illycafe was founded in Switserland too! 
On March 22nd Illycafé Ltd. is founded in Zurich (please note the difference between illycaffè
and Illycafé!). The founders are: Carlo Seitz, Dr. Roberto Hausbrandt
and... Dr. Ernesto Illy, son of Francesco Illy! However, because of WWII, on September 1st all operations are
discontinued until 1950. In 1964 Dr. Ernesto Illy sells his part of the firm and he agrees that
his parners may use the name Illycafé in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, however the coffee is
not the same as illy...of course.
Francesco Illy Jr. moved to Switzerland and became a Swiss citizen. He wishes to
sell illycaffè there, but as there was already Illycafé he couldn't use the name illy.
So from 1989 on, he sold coffee (and later cups) under the name amici Caffè AG . Just like the illy cups the amici cups
have an inscription inside. And depending on the fact if they are bar cups or not, it says
"amici espresso" or "amici collection". Unlike the regular illy sets, the amici sets are limited to quantities of 2500 to 3000 pieces. The cups do not come in gift boxes like illy,
but in a standard amici package with just a little colored sticker, mentioning the name and artist.
The little brochure that can be found together with the illy collection cups is missing.
Information about the cups can be found in the amici catalogues "Espresso time" and from 1998
in the "FrancisFrancis! Times" catalogues.
Many illy collection cups cups were first made as amici cups and later sold in the
illy version. So you can find amici sets released as illy sets too.
Well, it's the other way around too.This means that a few sets were only made for amici and not for illy. A very wanted set is the, Trazzine set in a beige color, released in 1995. 
In 1996 amici released Native American Art
by Eric Mac Pherson. 
In 1998 Protrahere by Heinz Gadient
and Perforniture by Vittoria Corsini (in diffferent
espresso and cappuccino size cups) were released. These
artists are not very well know and maybe that's why the cups were not released as illy collection cups.
Like the 1998 illy collection Los Niños, Cambiaremos El Mundo set, amici released two
sets, 1997 and 1998, made by children.
Not from children around the world like the illy version, but both times from
children living in Switzerland.
I think that the best similarities and differences between illy and amici can be found
in the Fossile cups. There was only one cup made for the illy collection set,
but there are two different cups in the amici collection set. Beside the,
similar illy cup with the snail, there is also a cup in amici set with a sea-urchin.
"illy collection" versus "illy espresso" If you are looking for the real illy collection collector items, be sure your cups are signed and numbered on the bottom. All cups that say "illy espresso" on the inside are so-called bar cups. These cups are made from "thicker" china and they are used in restaurants and bars. The bar cups only mention the factories stamp and, in case of Richard Ginori, a number for the kind of china that has been used. Most cups with the inscription "illy collection" and a signature and number at the bottom are considered to be in your collection. However, the first Arte e Mestieri cups have the inscription:"illy collection 1992", but they were neither signed nor numbered. Therefore it is unique of its kind. The 1993 Arte e Mestieri set was released with the "illy collection 1993" inscription, but this time it appeared also in a signed and numbered version.  It seems that illy did not exactly know how to precede with the collection cups.
There are many versions of the Italian Faces cups.
Maybe that illy came up with the idea to produce some of the same signed and
numbered series for a longer period, just with a different year (1993, 1994 and 1995).
The first Italian Faces collection series was produced in September 1993 and says
"illy collection 1993". The second one is from 1994 which says "illy collection 1994".
In 1995 there was another version, made by Mitterteich (instead of Richard Ginori).
On the inside of the cups of this version the inscription says "illy collection"
and on the bottom it mentions "illy collection 1995". So the year moved from the inside of the cup to
the bottom.
Beside the first set, there are more cups that were only released as "illy espresso" bar cups. The Beach Plaza cup
was released as an illy collection cup for the Beach Plaza Hotel in Monaco. But when
they changed there name into Le Meredien Beach Plaza, they were only released as "illy
espresso" bar cups. 
The difference in the Dream set by Shizaku Yokomizo is
more significant. In the Dream bar cups versions
the saucers are always plain white (to much bustle to put the matching cups and saucers
together in bars and restaurants). I guess that's the reason why in this set
the bar cups were changed. To make Yokomizo's drawings complete, the images on the saucers, which are decorated too
in the "illy collection" version, were added to the cups. So, the cups differ from the
signed and numbered ones.
The "Dream" cups are different, but there are also three sets which were
never released as an "illy collection" set. For the 2003
,2005 and 2007
Biennale in Venice 4 espresso
and 4 cappuccino size cups
were designed just as "illy espresso" bar cups. They could not be bought in shops or
through the illy internet site. The only way to get one would be to give a very friendly smile to the bartender
and "borrow" one when you drink an illy espresso or cappuccino at the Biennale or later
on in bars en restaurants :-)
In 2003 another interesting set was released. The transparent crystal
"Nude" cups are not signed and numbered, so not
considered to be "illy collection" cups. However, I think they should not be missed in
any collection. "illy art collection" and "illy anteprima..." 
Starting with the Michael Lin set, in 2006 the cups do not say "illy collection" anymore, but illy changed it
into "illy Art Collection" wich can be seen on the inside of cups and on the bottom of
the cups and the saucers.The inscription in the bar cups was changed from "illy espresso" to "anteprima illy...". special editions You can put the special editions in two categories: cups that are listed by illy or amici and the ones which are not. To find the listed cups, you can go to the cup collection section of this site, or just follow the link to the official illy site. listed cups Most of the illy collection cups come in a set of four or six cups, but some are released as single cups. Illy lists some of these cups as "riservata per operazione speciale". 
These limited edition single
cups , which are sometimes additional to a regular set as a 5th or 7th cup (like "Pompei"), are released
for special occasions, sponsored by illy. Most of these cups have the inscription "illy collection".
Other cups have an inscription that refers to the occasion on behalf of which they were released,
like the Ginger e Fred cup with the inscription
"illycaffé for TUTTO FELLINI New York 1993".
First these single cups came in little black boxes with the illy logo. Later on special
packages were made for them, like the one for the 1999
Silver cup by David Byrne.not listed cups But, not all the cups released through the years are listed by illy. You might find a press release of some of these cups, but you will not find them in an official list. 
The first examples of these cups came in a normal box. Simone Meentzens' "Slow Food"
was released in 1993 as a gift to members of the
Slow Food movement.
The same year, the second Arti e Mestieri set was a free gift at the illy convention with the
added inscription "convention1993". This is even more interesting because one of the cups
is different as the one from the regular set. The Annemaria Testa cup is
complete black in this version. 
In 1994 another illy convention cup showed up. For this occasion the Ginger e Fred cup was released
with the inscription "illy international convention 1994". 
In 1997 the Stati d'animo set by
Mario Giacomelli "La notte lava la mente" was
released for the by illy sponsored exhibition.special packages 
Later on, these cups were presented in special packages. The cups are usually the same,
but they are mostly released a year before the regular set. You can find it out by
looking at the stamp on the bottom of the cups. The first example is the 1999 7 cup Minimalia set by Mimo Paladino
edition which came in a cardboard suitcase and, the Texture of home for
"illy anteprima 1999" set presented in a film real. 
In 2000 the Aliens set by David Byrne was boxed in a special
designed space ship and the Artistas do Brasil (10° "Premio Brasil de Qualidade do Café
para Espresso") set was released in a tin box. As I mentioned before, these sets are not
listed by illy (anymore). Not anymore, because some of them could be bought through
the internet and on the Illy USA site,
you can still find some press releases about them.
In 2001 one of the cups of the 2002 International Flight series by Norma Jean was packed in a
"washing machine". In the years after the single limited edition cups were still released, but we had to wait
until 2005 for a set in a special package. That year the regular Atelier van Lieshout set
was presented in a version with a special decorated tray.
The International Fair of Contemporary Art
 took
place from 5th to 7th November 2004 at the Lingotto Trade Fair Centre in Turin.
Illy sponsored this art fair, and they released a cup on behalf of that occasion.
The cup is just plain white, like a logo cup, but the package was special designed for this occasion. advertising cups In the beginning of this paragraph I mentioned the Slow
Food cups. I explained that these cups were given away to members of the Slow Food Movement. 
During the years more sets were made to give away as "advertising cups".
In 1996 illy released the listed Videogrammi set,
but there was already a set in 1995! In that year they made a set for the Swiss company
Harting with the inscription "illy collection for Harting".
Amici also made some "advertising cups" for Swiss companies in the nineties. Roberta Pietrobelli's Spirali
was used in 1996 as a free gift for clients of the pharmaceutical company Permamed AG which is based in
Basel Switzerland.
The set has the inscription "amici collection for Permamed".
The same year the "Basket Playground" set was used for the company Jura ("amici collection for Jura")
that makes espresso machines.New members of the Swiss magazine "wirELTERN" received a 1997 Swiss Kids set with the inscription " amici collection for wir ELTERN" for free. I just found out recently about the Jura and the wirEltern sets. If you have one of these sets for sale please let me know. 
In 1997 another Roberta Pietrobelli set was used. This time the Zebra set with the inscription
"amici collection for SBvaccins" (SmithKline Beecham, another pharmaceutical company in Switzerland).
In 1998 Vittorio Corsini's Perforniture sets (both espresso and cappuccino) were used for
DemoSCOPE ("amici collection for DemoSCOPE").miscellaneous I'm not sure how the next cups should be categorized. 
A special cup that
has to mentioned is the
Paris cup by Rauschenberg. The Paris cup and Madrid saucer were supposed to be part
of the "World cups" set. But, Michelin (the French map company) complained that just copying
a map on a cup had nothing to do with art and they proceeded against illy for the use of the
Paris map. And yes, the Paris cups had to be withdrawn from production and being destroyed.
So, you cant find the Paris cup and Madrid saucer listed by illy, but they show
up every now and then.
Another interesting fact is that the World cups were released in another 4 cups version. 300 special sets were sold at the Guggenheim museum in New York for the Change Inc. foundation (a fund created by Rauschenberg to help artists in difficulty). The decoration is the same, but the saucers have a black signature and the use of paint was slightly different. The cups and saucers came in a different gift box, specially made for this occasion. Another interesting story is about the cups that were made especially for David Byrne (lead singer of the Talking Heads). Not all the "Silver cups" and "Aliens" sets went to the public. Some cups were reserved for David himself and friends and relatives. 
With the Silver cup shown on the picture, it's is very clear, because the inscription says so:
"illy collection for David Byrne". I do not know how many of these cups were made and maybe
it's just a prototype.
Concerning the Aliens set, it's a different story. Not a special inscription this time,
but the remark "ARTIST'S PROOF" on the bottom of the cups and a different numbering (all the cups have the
same number). I found out about this special set, because one of the musicians, who
works with David Byrne, contacted me about them.
prototypes artist known The special cups that you have seen above have been produced in limited editions. Some of them are listed by illy and amici and others not. But, there are more cups coming!
As you could read in the beginning of this section, Matteo Thun was asked to design a
new espresso cup in 1990. This resulted in the White cup, made by Richard Ginori.
This new shaped cup was used for the new logo cups, but when a member of Metteo Thun
decorated the cup the"NAÏF" prototype was born.
The cup was never meant to be produced, but it was just made to check out if it would be a
good idea to decorate cups. 
Like the Naif cup, all the cups are tested before they go into production.
First an artist is asked to make a design. From this design some prototypes are made and the
colors are tested. These cups are called "provare colori"- cups. You may find some of these,
slightly different colored, cups without stamps on the bottom or inscriptions inside.
Not only the colors are checked. An artist might have different ideas about a cup design.
So there are also experiments with the cups themselves as you can see with the
Tazzine Ballerine
cup. Unlike the fact that the regular set is colored, the cups beside has a relief
design!
As I mentioned, the artist experiments with colors, but sometimes more designs for a (six cup) set were made to choose from. 
On the bottom of the 2 cups beside you will find Simone Meentzen's signature, but you
will not find them in the Prima Collezione
cups set because these cups were never released.
That's the same with these A.R. Penck
espresso and cappuccino cups. The cups are
different then the six cups that were released. I don't know why they were not produced.
Maybe Peck had to choose only six cups, or maybe there were plans to produce a
limited 7th cup.
And how about this Tazzine Ballerine cup. Yes, it must be a design by
Marco Lodola, but it's a different dance ! So, not all the cups in a set make it into production and as you could see in the illy vs amici paragraph, some cups were released as amici, but never made it into the illy version. Well, there is a prototype set which was neither released as an amici nor as an illy set. 
The ES94-99 Etore Sottsass cups were not released in the
by Matteo Thun designed cup! They only made it into production as FrancisFrancis cups (
another line of cups produced by Francesco Illy). I found out about these cups because I discovered a picture in an old Amici brochure. You will not find the cups listed in any illy
or amici publication, but in the 1999-2000 FrancisFrancis brochure, the decoration
shows up again. This time on a FrancisFrancis espresso cup. The cup is part of the
Poi Ti Spiego ES94-99 series which were designed by Ettore Sottsass. In 1994, Francesco Illy asked Ettore Sottsass to create another series of collection
cups for amici/illy. Some illy collection prototypes were made by Mitterteich and
Francesco Illy liked the design. But...the rest of the family thought otherwise and
they denied the production in 1997 so this project ended.
But, times change and in 1999 Francesco Illy (who bought the rights of the designs)
contacted Sottsass again and he released the cups together with two new ones as part of the
FrancisFrancis Poi Ti Spiego series. The cups were named ES94-99.artist unknown There are also cups of which I could not find anything and of which I don't have a clue of whom the artist(s) might be.  The cups above maybe connected with the theme breakfast. Beside fruits you can see a coffee or tea pot. 
Well, not much to say about the two cups aside. I've never seen them in real. Please let
me know if you recognize them.
The last prototype that I will show you was bought by me in Germany late 2005.
Sorry, I do not know anything about it.
If you know who the artist might be, or whenever you have some information, please let me know. porcelain factories The illy and amici cups were made by Richard Ginori and IPA in Italy and by Mitterteich and Rosenthal in Germany.  The first cups for illy and amici were made by Richard Ginori.
You can find the whole story about this china factory at there beautiful website.
Both "illy collection" and "illy espresso" cups were made by them. The bar cups only mention the Richard Ginori stamp and a number
the kind of china that has been used. The last set made by Richard Ginori was Spirali in 1995.
by Roberta Peitrobelli in 1995. In 1994 IPA produced the first set
for illy. This was special, because both the cups and saucers were decorated. They are still producing
both "collection" and "espresso" cups for illy at the moment. They even spent a complete
section, with beautiful pictures, about illy cups on there web-site.  The Bavarian china factory Mitterteich
started producing cups from 1995. First they "copied" the Prima Collezione and the Facce Italiane sets.
In 1996 they produced Videgramma. Also interesting, because the 7th Videogramma cup was produced by IPA.
The last "illy collection" set made by Mitterteich was Modus Operandi in 2000.
The bar cups show the Mittertecih stamp, but the "illy collection only mention that the cups
were made in Germany.
When the cups are produced they are send to illy in Triest in a foam package, just containing the cups and saucers. In Triest they are packed in a giftbox an the little brochure is added. Where they Illy is very keen on the fact that they want all the prototypes or "provare colori"- cups to be send to them or to be destroyed. However, in spring 2005 Mitterteich closed and they sold cups directly to the public. That's why so many Mambo cups and some interesting prototypes showed up on the market! 
The first set made by Rosenthal was the special Minimalia set released in 1999 in a cardboard suitcase.
Rosenthals porcelain is priced higher then the other factories. I guess that's why they
do not produce bar cups for illy.
Walküre in Germany is also a porcelain factory that made cups for illy. However, they only made
logo cups for them just like other manufacturers as you can see in
the logo cups section. Interesting about Walküre is the fact that
they made the first logo cup that was designed by Matteo Thun.
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