Bialetti: A Catalogue is artist David Bergé’s proposal of a Bialetti catalogue, in the surprising absence of the actual thing.

In the 1920s Northern Italy, the brothers Camillo, Cezaro and Alfonso Bialetti produced aluminium household equipment in their workshops. Renato Bialetti, son of Alfonso, appropriated the family brand and industrialised the production of stovetop coffee makers in the early 1950s, going on to sell roughly 300 million pots worldwide. Producing clones of his product to beat competitors, Renato the controversial entrepreneur did not deem keeping records, prototypes or archives necessary.

In this void, David Bergé began gathering old Bialetti machines near the factory, at second-hand markets and in flagship stores in a quest to create his own Bialetti catalogue. The project 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.