illy

Illy was founded by a Hungarian, Francesco Illy (Illy Ferenc in Hungarian), born in Temesvár, Austria-Hungary (now Timișoara, Romania). During World War I he was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army. After the war and the Treaty of Trianon, he remained with his sister in Trieste, which had recently come under Italian rule. In 1933, he set up a cocoa and coffee business, eventually concentrating on coffee. Focusing his interest on espresso, in 1935, Illy invented the first automatic coffee machine which substituted pressurized water for steam, marketed as the illetta, the predecessor of contemporary espresso machines.

Illy developed a packaging system to preserve coffee, where coffee-filled cans are pressurized with nitrogen, to prevent oxidation. Illy coffee was soon marketed outside the Trieste area and was eventually marketed throughout Italy.

After World War II, control of the company passed to Ernesto Illy (1925–2008), the son of the founder, who started a research laboratory that would ultimately develop numerous inventions and patents. As a scientist and researcher, Ernesto Illy established cooperative agreements with universities and research centres and promoted coffee globally.

Ernesto's son Andrea Illy (born 1964) is currently the company chairman, and Andrea's sister Anna Illy (born 1958) and brothers Francesco Illy (born 1952) and Riccardo Illy (born 1955) are on the board of directors. Illy coffee is available globally, with price differences reflecting global tariffs.

In 1999, Illy established the University of Coffee, Unicaffe, in Naples to support education, research and innovation related to coffee. The university was later moved to company offices in Trieste; the Unicaffe network currently has 27 branches worldwide.

Product lines

Illy coffees are blended from arabica beans from multiple sources. The grounds are packaged in steel canisters and pressurized with an inert gas rather than air.

On 22 May 2009, in partnership with the Coca-Cola Company, illy launched a line of coffee-flavoured energy drinks marketed as illy issimo. In 2009, AirTran Airways began serving the beverage to passengers, which has since been available in five flavours: caffè, caffè no sugar, cappuccino, latte macchiato, and mochaccino.

Product design

In 1992, Francesco Illy, Andrea Illy's brother, launched The Illy Art Collection to collaborate with well-known artists and designers outside the coffee industry, producing artwork for the company's cups; develop company-branded coffee machines and create specialized advertising photography. Robert Rauschenberg, Francis Ford Coppola, David Byrne, Jeff Koons, Yoko Ono, and James Rosenquist (designer of illy's original logo) as well as architects Matteo Thun and Luca Trazzi have contributed coffee cup artwork. In 2006, the project extended to Illy's coffee cans. Current versions of the latest cups and other promotional pieces are marketed on the company's website, and the collection is featured in a company gallery.