coffee-percolator
- Museum number
- 1997,1202.1
- Description
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Coffee-maker consisting of a clear glass jug, with black composite handle, suspended on a black composite frame, the base of which is pressed metal - perhaps chrome-plated. Below the jug is a vessel to hold flammable material with a wick unit sat on the top. To the side, a clear glass bowl, with an open tube at the base, joined to the bowl by a rubber seal. The bowl contains a pressed glass stopper. On the underside of the base, the surface is decorated with a squared pattern. There are a number of marks and five black plastic 'feet'. Maker's marks, those on glass etched.
- Production date
- 1962 (designed)
- Dimensions
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Height: 310 millimetres (overall)
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- Curator's comments
- A much sought after design classic, the Cona Coffee Maker is still produced today by the Cona Catering Equipment Company (London). Most famous for his graphic design, Games was a keen inventor. The Cona Coffee Maker is his most famous piece of domestic product design and the only such object he ever created. The commission came from the head of Cona, who happened top be a friend, following Games's complaint that their machine was clumsy. The first model, called the Cona Rex, came out in 1950, using scrap aluminium from wartime production. The handle has a sharper downward curve and the framework is more solid, painted cream or black. In 1962 the model was updated with the cantilevered frame forming an unbroken arc with the plastic handle of the jug. The jug floats in space, supported only at the neck. For the two versions, see See Naomi Games, Catherine Moriarty and June Rose, 'Abram Games, graphic designer: maximum meaning, minimum means', Aldershot 2003, p. 29. See also J. Rudoe, 'Remarks on current research', paper given at International Symposium, 'Modern Art of Metalwork, Bröhan Museum, Berlin, 2001: text available online at http://www.broehan-museum.de/08_symposien/08_symposien_metalwork.html
(accessed 16 December 2013)
Cona coffee makers manufactured and sold in the UK used glass components also manufactured in the UK. Those sold in Germany and France, although superficially identical to the UK version, had locally made glass to avoid import duty. The marks on the Museum's version indicate that it is likely to be a German market example (information kindly suplied by John Kenyon, May 2019).
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Imperfections in the glass, with lines that run horizontally around the bowl. Speckling on the metal.
- Acquisition date
- 1997
- Acquisition notes
- Bought at Alexandra Palace Antiques Fair, 21 January 1997.
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1997,1202.1
