Counting Down to Out Of the Box ”Café Of the Future Announced!

We are 23 days out from one of the most special and innovative coffee events in existence: La Marzocco’s Out of the Box Milano! Held for the first time in Milan, Italy, in 2009 ”and designed as a way of reaching forward-thinking cafe owners who were put off by the corporate nature of the HOST Milan event held at the same time ”La Marzocco’s Out of the Box was an instant hit, drawing hundreds of professional baristas, top names in the international coffee industry, and leaders in innovation.

We'll see you in Milan at La Marzocco's Out of the Box, right?
We’ll see you in Milan at La Marzocco’s Out of the Box, right?

As HOST is an every-other-year event, so is La Marzocco’s Out of the Box. While the boutique espresso machine company is actually returning to the HOST show floor, the Out of the Box event October 17 “19 will be bigger, cooler, and better than ever. Embracing Milan’s role as a world leader in style and design, this Out of the Box brings graphic designers, musicians, architects, artists, fashionistas, and of course, coffee legends together ”seriously, both Piero Bambi and Francesco Illy will be present, among tens of other leaders in creative industries.

We at Barista Magazine are super excited about this event ”we’ve been previewing it over the past few months as details were announced. To see the blog posts we’ve written thus far, go HERE.

Today we received information about the Out of the Box “Coffee Shop of the Future,” which sounds so rad! Check it out:

The 2013 edition of Out of the Box,  on October 18  and 19, is about “mindfulness” and breaking the rules. While concentrating on today, OOTB 2013 would like to provide the La Marzocco staff, network, wider specialty coffee industry and the public with the opportunity to open all its senses to new information, as well as new trends, to appreciating differing perspectives. OOTB is about noticing new things, about being vital, ensuring a competitive edge. Innovation is not limited to a product. It is a culture that can be (or not) applied to a manner of being.

What a perfect opportunity then to present the results of the project that La Marzocco developed this year in collaboration with the European Institute of Design (IED), the international school of design, fashion, visual arts and management.

Fourteen students from the school, who are studying photography, marketing, events, sound design, graphic design and video design carried out an analysis of the world of coffee and coffee shops in order to investigate the coffee shop of the future and define the Italian coffee experience.

During Out of the Box, dedicated this year to Design & Innovation, the results of the program will be presented in a book entirely designed by the students. Moreover, participants at the event can explore the coffee shop of the future thanks to two additional elements produced by the students: a video and a sound scape. The video and the sound scape, the latter being the fruit of sample sounds of a La Marzocco espresso machine and general sounds from the coffee world environment, will provide an alternative representation of what the students individuated during the project and will provide a visual and musical background to the event.

Out of the Box is open to the public and will host speakers, workshops, and roasting and cupping sessions. It will also be possible to visit the area specifically dedicated to the project carried out by the students from IED in the Sala Firenze space at Spazio Bugatti, via G. Bugatti 7 (Tortona neighborhood), Milan.

Sounds amazing!

About Sarah 932 Articles
Sarah Allen (she/her) is co-founder and editor of Barista Magazine, the international trade magazine for coffee professionals. A passionate advocate for baristas, quality, and the coffee community, Sarah has traveled widely to research stories, interact with readers, and present on a variety of topics affecting specialty coffee. She also loves animals, swimming, ice cream, and living in Portland, Oregon.