illycaffè introduces the new illy Art Collection designed by Pascale Marthine Tayou at Frieze Los Angeles

Los Angeles – February 16th, 2023 – illycaffè, global partner of Frieze, returns to Los Angeles for the international contemporary art fair to be held at the new venue at Santa Monica Airport from February 16th to 19th, 2023.

illycaffè is a B Corp certified company founded in Trieste in 1933 and renowned worldwide for its sustainable quality, its role as an international partner of contemporary art, and for having turned an everyday object such as the plain white espresso cup into one of the most complete art collections worldwide, made accessible to all.

During Frieze Los Angeles, illycaffè will introduce the new illy Art Collection and matching cans designed by Pascale Marthine Tayou, an artist who likes to define himself as a foreigner, a nomad, and a traveller, and who over the years has won over the international public with his work, which is extremely versatile and heterogeneous, and impossible to categorize.  Pascale Marthine Tayou’s collection reflects upon the great issues of our time: conflict, environmental sustainability, globalization, and immigration.

In the illy lounge, located between stand E13 and E14, visitors, artists and exhibitors will be able to discover the illy Art Collection and enjoy a veritable art experience, where beauty and goodness come together in the sophisticated design of a location inspired by the lines of Pascale Marthine Tayou’s work, and where they will be welcomed by the aroma of the unique illy blend.

To decorate the coffee cups and cans that comprise the illy Art Collection, the artist used a palette that calls to mind the colours of the African landscape, bringing to life the drawing of a stylized mask next to a tree, a symbol of nature and life, on whose every branch grow eggs, symbolizing birth and creation.

“Contemporary art is the language that best expresses the union between the beautiful and the good in a cup of illy coffee; by blending together, they promise a unique multi-sensorial experience. Our support to Frieze rests upon our shared intents, as we are both committed to promoting contemporary art in all of its artistic expressions” says Cristina Scocchia, CEO of illycaffè.


illy and contemporary art
Searching for, discovering, and valorizing that which is beautiful and new are some of the trademarks of illy’s corporate culture. To pursue these values, the Trieste-based Italian company collaborates with the main contemporary art fairs worldwide.

For illycaffè, whose distinctive values are Good, Goodness, Beauty, contemporary art adds beauty to taste. The beauty that illycaffè strives for comes from the ancient Greek concept of kalokagathìa, which combines kalòs (beautiful) and agathòs (good) to create a new meaning in which beauty and good become inseparable: one depends on the other.

The illy Art Collection cups are a tangible expression of this concept. The project was born in 1992, and through it, the company turned an everyday object into a blank canvas by inviting contemporary artists to express their creativity on the espresso cup that Matteo Thun designed for illy. Over the years, more than one hundred internationally renowned artists worked on this canvas, including Michelangelo Pistoletto, Marina Abramović, Anish Kapoor, James Rosenquist, William Kentridge, Yoko Ono, Mona Hatoum, Robert Wilson, Ai Weiwei and more…

Coffee lovers sipping an illy espresso from a cup designed by an artist combine the flavour and aroma of the illy blend with a complete visual, aesthetic, and tactile experience, entering into a relationship with contemporary art.