The latest illy art collection

All about Almodóvar

The new illy Art Collection has been designed by the celebrated Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar. It consists of a single espresso cup and the full collection of six cups.
The design of the individual espresso cup was inspired by the director’s most recent film “Los Abrazos Rotos” (Broken Embraces), released in Spain on 18 March, and the rest of Europe in May.
The cup features the face of the film’s star, Penélope Cruz, immortalized in a sequence of photograms in the style of Warhol.

“Los Abrazos Rotos” is the story of Matteo, Lena, Judit and Ernesto Martel: a tale of “amour fou” dominated by fatalism, jealousy, the abuse of power, betrayal and guilt. The ultimate expression of this blood-red film noir is the shattered picture of the two lovers embracing.
The plot of the film, shot in Lanzarote and Madrid, is set in the 1990s and continues until the present day. It has overtones of film noir from the 1950s.

The single cup is accompanied by the complete “Pedro Almodóvar” collection, consisting of six espresso and cappuccino cups.
It is a collage of image and color, retracing Almodóvar’s career through six of his best-known full-length films:

Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, 1987)
Atame! (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!) (1989)
Tacones lejanos (High Heels, 1991)
La flor de mi secreto (The Flower of My Secret, 1995)
La mala educación (Bad Education, 2003)
Volver (2006)
 
The cups were designed by Juan Gatti (Argentina) who also creates the posters and graphic design for the Spanish director.
 
“illy has long been the coffee of choice on Almodóvar’s sets. That was how we came up with the idea of approaching him to see if he would be interested in working on the illy Art Collection ”, says Carlo Bach, artistic director at illycaffè. “We were convinced that his creativity and anti-conformist approach to narration would mark another important milestone on our path. He decided to express himself using the pictures from posters of six films that have marked out his cinematic career over the years”.