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Espresso Machines at $20,000 Bring High Design Into Homes

By Jeremy Kahn - Nov 18, 2013 7:00 PM ET

Bloomberg Pursuits Magazine

Christian Hagemann/Bloomberg Pursuits

"Espresso is fast coffee, so the machine should look fast," Kees van der Westen says of his Spirit espresso maker.

Kees van der Westen first encountered espresso as a college student. It was the 1980s, and he was studying industrial design in Genk, Belgium. Like most college students, he valued the dark, acidic shots pulled in local cafes primarily for their caffeine content, not their complexity of flavor, mouth feel or aroma.

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Kees van der Westen's company produces about 400 machines a year in his small workshop in the Netherlands. Photographer: Christian Hagemann/Bloomberg Pursuits

That changed after he chose the espresso machine as the final project for his degree, Bloomberg Pursuits magazine will report in its Holiday 2013 issue. Most devices then in production were boring metal boxes, he says, leaving plenty of room for innovation.

Today, van der Westen’s machines -- chrome goddesses whose bodies evoke the lines of classic midcentury American automobiles -- have gained a cult following among coffee connoisseurs.