A concept by Peder Torget

3

1. Coffee - why?2. Essay - a few points3. State of the art4. Concepts5. The Arietta6. Process7. Final models8. Attachments: Essay

Index

3

1. Coffee - why?2. Essay - a few points3. State of the art4. Concepts5. The Arietta6. Process7. Final models8. Attachments: Essay

Index

4 5

Everybody likes coffee! I chose my topic based on a special interest of mine. The thought was that it would kinder my enthusiasm. Also it is a product with a history, it has developed through several evolutionary steps and a few revolutions. Thanks to the huge product sphere revolving coffee as a topic, it is a lot of possibilities for working with many different products. Finally, most products of these products have a manageable and inspiring size for form exploration and model building (1:1)

Why coffee?A brief historical time line:

1840 Napier’s vacuum pot•1850 (ca.) The french press•1865 James Nason´s percolator pot patent•1901 Luigi Bezzera´s espresso machine•1908 Melitta Bentz coffee filter system•1901/1938 Instant coffee (vacuum dried/•freeze dried)1972 mr.Coffee automatic drip•2006 CEC´s programmable, single serve •coffee brewer, the Clover

My thoughts on the central topics for this course:“Innovasjonshøyde” - height of innovation: the term implies that there is a scale to which one can measure how great the advance and improvement the new solution holds over the existing. I personally believe that innovation is based on either observation of what is and what

has been precedence, or through discovery of something completely new.Valuable evolution: when innovation is either a mere observation or a “stumble upon”-discovery, are not most things then evolutionary? Take for instance the story about the Ethiopian shepherd discovering the energizing effect of caffeine on his sheep; even though he stumbled upon this phenomenon he had both the opportunity and ability of turning this into something valuable A revolution, Kaffebrenneriet: This was without doubt a revolution, and it was a revolution with masses of people in it. The commercial success was substantial, but what was it based on? Again, this can be answered by stressing the importance of context and timing. Interestingly, the only aspect of innovation that can be pointed to here is the observation of a market being ready for an already existing product.

Essay, a few points

4 5

Everybody likes coffee! I chose my topic based on a special interest of mine. The thought was that it would kinder my enthusiasm. Also it is a product with a history, it has developed through several evolutionary steps and a few revolutions. Thanks to the huge product sphere revolving coffee as a topic, it is a lot of possibilities for working with many different products. Finally, most products of these products have a manageable and inspiring size for form exploration and model building (1:1)

Why coffee?A brief historical time line:

1840 Napier’s vacuum pot•1850 (ca.) The french press•1865 James Nason´s percolator pot patent•1901 Luigi Bezzera´s espresso machine•1908 Melitta Bentz coffee filter system•1901/1938 Instant coffee (vacuum dried/•freeze dried)1972 mr.Coffee automatic drip•2006 CEC´s programmable, single serve •coffee brewer, the Clover

My thoughts on the central topics for this course:“Innovasjonshøyde” - height of innovation: the term implies that there is a scale to which one can measure how great the advance and improvement the new solution holds over the existing. I personally believe that innovation is based on either observation of what is and what

has been precedence, or through discovery of something completely new.Valuable evolution: when innovation is either a mere observation or a “stumble upon”-discovery, are not most things then evolutionary? Take for instance the story about the Ethiopian shepherd discovering the energizing effect of caffeine on his sheep; even though he stumbled upon this phenomenon he had both the opportunity and ability of turning this into something valuable A revolution, Kaffebrenneriet: This was without doubt a revolution, and it was a revolution with masses of people in it. The commercial success was substantial, but what was it based on? Again, this can be answered by stressing the importance of context and timing. Interestingly, the only aspect of innovation that can be pointed to here is the observation of a market being ready for an already existing product.

Essay, a few points

6 7

There are several vendors of coffee equipment, ranging from the low-end, mass produced electronics shopping malls to more specific small scale and high-end boutiques and coffee shops. There is a lot of concepts, products and accessories that don’t make it to Oslo, possibly even to productions at all, and creativity is high within the product sphere. A quick search on coffee reveals loads of creative and aesthetic al objects, either in a conceptual stage or physical products. To understand state of the art and get inspiration for my own concept development, I documented the selection of coffee products (and similar) in two different stores form each end of the exclusivity scale, more specifically Elkjøp and Rafens. My observations is that most product in the more affordable range is mostly dominated by more or less sculptural, plastic junk.

The exceptions are few, but the Tecniworm Moccamaster stands out as a more industrial looking, better finished product. Though the price rises immediately to a level that matches that of the more exclusive shops. The products in the more expensive range is normally sticking to traditional aesthetics, a more industrial and functional look. There are of course quite a few exceptions to this rule: Alessi, Bodum, Eva Solo an a lot of other brands all make various beautiful, sculptural objects. What really does shine through in almost all of these objects is that materiality and finish is at a high level. Personally I feel that there aren’t many products that play well with the generic objects in the kitchen. There is either something lacking in terms of materiality or something about the form the object has been given. Very rarely do I see both well executed in one product. I would like to give the task of creating “the perfect product” a chance through my project.

State of the art

A selection of coffee products from the affordable end of the price scale

Elkjøp

6 7

There are several vendors of coffee equipment, ranging from the low-end, mass produced electronics shopping malls to more specific small scale and high-end boutiques and coffee shops. There is a lot of concepts, products and accessories that don’t make it to Oslo, possibly even to productions at all, and creativity is high within the product sphere. A quick search on coffee reveals loads of creative and aesthetic al objects, either in a conceptual stage or physical products. To understand state of the art and get inspiration for my own concept development, I documented the selection of coffee products (and similar) in two different stores form each end of the exclusivity scale, more specifically Elkjøp and Rafens. My observations is that most product in the more affordable range is mostly dominated by more or less sculptural, plastic junk.

The exceptions are few, but the Tecniworm Moccamaster stands out as a more industrial looking, better finished product. Though the price rises immediately to a level that matches that of the more exclusive shops. The products in the more expensive range is normally sticking to traditional aesthetics, a more industrial and functional look. There are of course quite a few exceptions to this rule: Alessi, Bodum, Eva Solo an a lot of other brands all make various beautiful, sculptural objects. What really does shine through in almost all of these objects is that materiality and finish is at a high level. Personally I feel that there aren’t many products that play well with the generic objects in the kitchen. There is either something lacking in terms of materiality or something about the form the object has been given. Very rarely do I see both well executed in one product. I would like to give the task of creating “the perfect product” a chance through my project.

State of the art

A selection of coffee products from the affordable end of the price scale

Elkjøp

8 9

A concept on the traditional automatic drip coffee maker. Focus should be on materials, form and functionality. What would the natural aesthetic evolution be?

“Forming drip”

The first phase of design phase was all about generating four concepts, two on evolution and two on revolution. From the 4 concepts, one was to be chosen for further development.

Evolution on the generic drip coffee maker1. Evolution on the stove top espresso maker2. Revolution, espresso maker for “away-from 3. -home” useRevolution, better coffee on flights4.

The different concepts

8 9

A concept on the traditional automatic drip coffee maker. Focus should be on materials, form and functionality. What would the natural aesthetic evolution be?

“Forming drip”

The first phase of design phase was all about generating four concepts, two on evolution and two on revolution. From the 4 concepts, one was to be chosen for further development.

Evolution on the generic drip coffee maker1. Evolution on the stove top espresso maker2. Revolution, espresso maker for “away-from 3. -home” useRevolution, better coffee on flights4.

The different concepts

10 11

If you don’t have a stove, you either need an espresso machine or an automatic drip. Unless you want to settle for instant coffee. Why?

“The gun”

A good espresso anywhere! Bring hot water and coffee. No need for electricity. Simple system with adjustability

“travelspresso”

10 11

If you don’t have a stove, you either need an espresso machine or an automatic drip. Unless you want to settle for instant coffee. Why?

“The gun”

A good espresso anywhere! Bring hot water and coffee. No need for electricity. Simple system with adjustability

“travelspresso”

12 13

Better tasting coffee through a principle similar to that of a french press. A big “bag” for better circulation, its even possible to give it a swirl. The string that runs around the edge (sweatshirt hood principle) is to be pulled through the slotted funnel and squeeze out the water

“Coffee bag”

The process further on would be based on a combination of two concepts; the gun and the automatic drip. The feedback from the presentation of the concepts was to look at the espresso maker, make it into a semi-portable machine, much in a way like the automatic drip. It ought to fit in an environment where a large coffee machines would be to much and also where there is no stove. Also look into materiality and the aesthetics of traditional kitchen utensils.

Chosen concept

12 13

Better tasting coffee through a principle similar to that of a french press. A big “bag” for better circulation, its even possible to give it a swirl. The string that runs around the edge (sweatshirt hood principle) is to be pulled through the slotted funnel and squeeze out the water

“Coffee bag”

The process further on would be based on a combination of two concepts; the gun and the automatic drip. The feedback from the presentation of the concepts was to look at the espresso maker, make it into a semi-portable machine, much in a way like the automatic drip. It ought to fit in an environment where a large coffee machines would be to much and also where there is no stove. Also look into materiality and the aesthetics of traditional kitchen utensils.

Chosen concept

14 15

in terms of quality of the taste and the quality of the equipment. She takes pride in her coffee rituals and likes to communicate to the world that she does. She does not have to be a general snob or particularly rich, but gastronomic and cultural value is highly prioritized. She will probably be anywhere from late teenage to early pensioner. There is as far as I’ve found no current solution on the market. Some espresso makers deliver on some of the aspects, such as size, functional principle, materials or design, but it seems that no producer has though to make one that checks all the boxes above. You might find cheap solutions that fail to produce a decent tasting cup and look terrible, and you might find expensive solutions that make great coffee but they tend to take up a lot of real-estate. What then for the coffee aficionado at her desk in her small office? Aha, a niche in the market that has yet to be filled!

An espresso maker for the office, the studio, the classroom or perhaps the cabin. It is not exactly an espresso machine, because it is much smaller and much simpler, though its not a stove top Bialetti Moka Express copy either. What the Arietta is then is something of a hybrid; it is an advanced and adjustable

version of the Bialetti with a water boiler of its own. It uses the pressure that builds up in the tank when the water boils to force the water through the ground coffee beans. The user can adjust the flow with an adjustable pressure valve and also the time of extraction with the open/close release button.The typical user would be over average concerned with her coffee drinking habits, both

Introducing the Arietta

14 15

in terms of quality of the taste and the quality of the equipment. She takes pride in her coffee rituals and likes to communicate to the world that she does. She does not have to be a general snob or particularly rich, but gastronomic and cultural value is highly prioritized. She will probably be anywhere from late teenage to early pensioner. There is as far as I’ve found no current solution on the market. Some espresso makers deliver on some of the aspects, such as size, functional principle, materials or design, but it seems that no producer has though to make one that checks all the boxes above. You might find cheap solutions that fail to produce a decent tasting cup and look terrible, and you might find expensive solutions that make great coffee but they tend to take up a lot of real-estate. What then for the coffee aficionado at her desk in her small office? Aha, a niche in the market that has yet to be filled!

An espresso maker for the office, the studio, the classroom or perhaps the cabin. It is not exactly an espresso machine, because it is much smaller and much simpler, though its not a stove top Bialetti Moka Express copy either. What the Arietta is then is something of a hybrid; it is an advanced and adjustable

version of the Bialetti with a water boiler of its own. It uses the pressure that builds up in the tank when the water boils to force the water through the ground coffee beans. The user can adjust the flow with an adjustable pressure valve and also the time of extraction with the open/close release button.The typical user would be over average concerned with her coffee drinking habits, both

Introducing the Arietta

16 17

Understanding the needed components

Sketching IProcess - SketchingThe process of sketching became divided into three parts: pre, during and after the workshop with Tobias Wandrup, which will be referred to as stage I, II and III. There was quite a lot of catching up to do as my skills had been dormant for some time.

16 17

Understanding the needed components

Sketching IProcess - SketchingThe process of sketching became divided into three parts: pre, during and after the workshop with Tobias Wandrup, which will be referred to as stage I, II and III. There was quite a lot of catching up to do as my skills had been dormant for some time.

18 19

Derivative from “the gun”

Sketching I

Detailing “the gun”

Sketching I

18 19

Derivative from “the gun”

Sketching I

Detailing “the gun”

Sketching I

20 21

Thoughts on system and arrangement

Sketching IEarly ideas, total shapes

Sketching I

20 21

Thoughts on system and arrangement

Sketching IEarly ideas, total shapes

Sketching I

22 23

Closer look on hierarchical arrangement

Sketching I

Explorations, total shape

Sketching II

22 23

Closer look on hierarchical arrangement

Sketching I

Explorations, total shape

Sketching II

24 25

Exploring total shapes, integrating handle

Sketching II

Looking at functionality in new shape

Sketching II

24 25

Exploring total shapes, integrating handle

Sketching II

Looking at functionality in new shape

Sketching II

26 27

Integrated handle

Sketching IIIntegrated handle

Sketching II

26 27

Integrated handle

Sketching IIIntegrated handle

Sketching II

28 29

Final four concepts, Wandrup-workshop

Sketching IIFinal four concepts, Wandrup-workshop

Sketching II

28 29

Final four concepts, Wandrup-workshop

Sketching IIFinal four concepts, Wandrup-workshop

Sketching II

30 31

Base for building a physical model

Sketching IIIBase for building a physical model

Sketching III

30 31

Base for building a physical model

Sketching IIIBase for building a physical model

Sketching III

32 33

A softer, more organic mid band shape

Sketching III

A conical approach

Sketching III

32 33

A softer, more organic mid band shape

Sketching III

A conical approach

Sketching III

34 35

Handle explorations, orientation and shape

Sketching IIIHandle explorations, orientation and shape

Sketching III

34 35

Handle explorations, orientation and shape

Sketching IIIHandle explorations, orientation and shape

Sketching III

36 37

Closing in on overall shape, handle and base

Sketching III

Last sketches, base for CAD

Sketching III

36 37

Closing in on overall shape, handle and base

Sketching III

Last sketches, base for CAD

Sketching III

38 39

Parallel to the sketching several physical test models were made. They helped guiding proportions, decisions important to details, the necessity of a handle and the development of the overall shape.

Process - physical tests

42 43

Because of the nature of the shape the building the digital model became an exercise in revolving. It was evident from the start that the model would have to have a distinct focus on detail, proportions and finish. At the same time modelling was guided largely on the functionality of the product. In trying to keep the overall size at a minimum, everything had to be planned and executed with slim tolerances and margins. The CAD process met its first milestone when the test model arrived from the RP-printer. And it was way too big. Internals were rethought and details were adjusted. In the end the shape found its final form in a one-hand manageable size, without handles or excess fuzz.

Process - CAD

44 45

44 45

46 47

Assessment of the shape from the first round of rapid prototyping parts made enabled me to carefully finalize the project. Some major decisions, like removing the handle entirely, was made possible by having a precise physical model at hand. Also smaller adjustments to proportions and details were much easier to decide on. In the end, all that was left to do was giving the final model a thorough finishing of with aluminium parts and several layers of gloss paint. The result is a model that represents the product very close to what the appearance will be in a larger scale production.

RP - test and final model

46 47

Assessment of the shape from the first round of rapid prototyping parts made enabled me to carefully finalize the project. Some major decisions, like removing the handle entirely, was made possible by having a precise physical model at hand. Also smaller adjustments to proportions and details were much easier to decide on. In the end, all that was left to do was giving the final model a thorough finishing of with aluminium parts and several layers of gloss paint. The result is a model that represents the product very close to what the appearance will be in a larger scale production.

RP - test and final model

48 49

48 49

50 51

50 51

1

INTRODUCTION

Terms, expressions and words are often used for more reasons than

simply conveying the meaning they contain. Coming from newspapers

and publications, ways of wording texts are often chosen because of

their connection to current trends, contemporary scientific advances,

political movements, or simply their “coolness” factor. Some people

might choose to use specific terms to elevate themselves to a higher

intellectual status, some to fit into certain social contexts, then again

others might just not understand the meaning of the words at all. Almost

always there are specific needs that lie behind the emergence of terms

and words, be it to concisely and academically formulate something one

has not yet had the right words to describe, or to create poetic and

culturally weighted expressions for use in all from slang in a street setting

to an up scale art scene. Words are often used erroneous because the

correct meaning of the words is either not thoroughly understood by the

protagonist, the meaning has been distorted by developments in the

cultural context or perhaps the meaning itself has become obsolete or at

least watered down.

The terms revolution, innovation, paradigm shift and innovation are often

repeated over and over again in the daily press, almost as often as the

word design1 itself. This reveals an interesting phenomenon; our field of

work has become a trendy fashion statement. It again relates to the

already stated fact, words are often used to gain admittance to a social

context, in this example sell newspapers to more people. Designers

themselves seems to disagree with the image the daily press normally

portray, it is therefore of great importance that we understand and build

our vocabulary to the fullest in order to communicate clearly the true

qualities of the work we do.

MY POINT OF VIEW

This paper will be a discussion around the terms stated in the title,

guided by two aspects:

1.) I am an industrial designer (not a scientist, inventor, politician,

journalist – to mention a few other possible starting points for the

coming discussion).

2.) My chosen theme to work with for this course, the world of coffee,

will be the practical mirror for my theoretical discussion.

Through this discussion I seek to build my own knowledge and

understanding of these important terms, and in the end be able to

transfer this knowledge into the final product of this course – the

physical materialization of a concept and a design process.

EVOLUTION

INNOVATION

REVOLUTION

&

PARADIGM SHIFT

Peder Torget

Teknoform Autumn 08 AHO / IDE

INTRODUCTION 1

MY POINT OF VIEW 1

PEOPLE AT THE CORE 2

BRIEF COFFEE HISTORY 2

HOW WE MAKE COFFEE 3

INNOVATION AND EVOLUTION 4

NORWEGIANS AND THE COFFEE BAR REVOLUTION 5

IS IT A PARADIGM SHIFT? 6

EXAMPLE OF THE FUTURE 7

TO SUM UP 7

ENDNOTES / REFERENCE 9

1

INTRODUCTION

Terms, expressions and words are often used for more reasons than

simply conveying the meaning they contain. Coming from newspapers

and publications, ways of wording texts are often chosen because of

their connection to current trends, contemporary scientific advances,

political movements, or simply their “coolness” factor. Some people

might choose to use specific terms to elevate themselves to a higher

intellectual status, some to fit into certain social contexts, then again

others might just not understand the meaning of the words at all. Almost

always there are specific needs that lie behind the emergence of terms

and words, be it to concisely and academically formulate something one

has not yet had the right words to describe, or to create poetic and

culturally weighted expressions for use in all from slang in a street setting

to an up scale art scene. Words are often used erroneous because the

correct meaning of the words is either not thoroughly understood by the

protagonist, the meaning has been distorted by developments in the

cultural context or perhaps the meaning itself has become obsolete or at

least watered down.

The terms revolution, innovation, paradigm shift and innovation are often

repeated over and over again in the daily press, almost as often as the

word design1 itself. This reveals an interesting phenomenon; our field of

work has become a trendy fashion statement. It again relates to the

already stated fact, words are often used to gain admittance to a social

context, in this example sell newspapers to more people. Designers

themselves seems to disagree with the image the daily press normally

portray, it is therefore of great importance that we understand and build

our vocabulary to the fullest in order to communicate clearly the true

qualities of the work we do.

MY POINT OF VIEW

This paper will be a discussion around the terms stated in the title,

guided by two aspects:

1.) I am an industrial designer (not a scientist, inventor, politician,

journalist – to mention a few other possible starting points for the

coming discussion).

2.) My chosen theme to work with for this course, the world of coffee,

will be the practical mirror for my theoretical discussion.

Through this discussion I seek to build my own knowledge and

understanding of these important terms, and in the end be able to

transfer this knowledge into the final product of this course – the

physical materialization of a concept and a design process.

EVOLUTION

INNOVATION

REVOLUTION

&

PARADIGM SHIFT

Peder Torget

Teknoform Autumn 08 AHO / IDE

INTRODUCTION 1

MY POINT OF VIEW 1

PEOPLE AT THE CORE 2

BRIEF COFFEE HISTORY 2

HOW WE MAKE COFFEE 3

INNOVATION AND EVOLUTION 4

NORWEGIANS AND THE COFFEE BAR REVOLUTION 5

IS IT A PARADIGM SHIFT? 6

EXAMPLE OF THE FUTURE 7

TO SUM UP 7

ENDNOTES / REFERENCE 9

3

Though some stimulant effects is agreed upon, there is speculation

around its positive medical effect on certain illnesses. In an interview with

Forbes Magazine6 Peter R. Martin, a professor of psychiatry and

pharmacology at Vanderbilt University states the following:

“Predominantly in epidemiologic studies, there have been associations

between coffee consumption and lowered rates of certain illnesses, like

suicide, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, Type II diabetes, colon cancer

and heart disease”. He goes on to say: “There's no compelling evidence

that shows it's harmful, and everyday there's more evidence that shows

coffee is beneficial”. At the same time it is widely agreed upon that

ingestion should be held at reasonable level, because of a few health

concerns, one is the connection made between gastric ulcer, the

bacteria Helicobacter pylori and the effect coffee has on acidic

production in the stomach7.

HOW WE MAKE COFFEE

As already mentioned there is a lot of processes that have to come

together when producing a cup of coffee, all the way from cultivation, to

drying, through roasting to finally adding water into the mix. A lot of

things have happened to all of the different pieces of this puzzle through

times. As a designer I believe in a holistic approach in understanding the

entire process, but for the scope of this discussion I feel that it is most

purposeful to discuss the latter stage of this process, to be specific: the

equipment/process that puts the ground coffee beans in contact with

water to extract the flavor from the coffee bean – called either extraction

or brewing. There are several ways of executing this final step in making

a cup of coffee; each produces a slightly different tasting beverage. What

makes these iterations of the coffee making processes interesting to the

discussion of the terms evolution, revolution and paradigm shift is that

they have developed throughout the lifespan of coffee existence.

The first crude steps in making a cup of coffee were those of the pioneer

Arabs, which simply meant boiling the coffee beans in water.

Interestingly enough, this process

stuck around up until Melitta Bentz in

1908 became fed up with making

coffee from boiling those ground

coffee beans wrapped in a piece of

cloth. She then used her ingenuity to

create, and receive a patent for, the

worlds first cone shaped “filter top

device lined with filter paper”8. This

became the point of departure for the automatic drip coffee maker we

know today.

The espresso has in some cultural contexts become the holy grail of

coffee making. This might be attributed to the singleness and purity of

this highly concentrated flavor experience. Its status could also be

2

PEOPLE AT THE CORE

Mankind or people are at the core of all of these terms. There are of

course exceptions to this statement, for example could a scientific

paradigm relate to science itself, but then again what relevance would

science hold if mankind would not benefit from it? Evolution itself is to a

certain extent built on mankind’s inherent will to reach higher, be

stronger and see longer. As I see it, leaving people out of the equation

when talking about these terms in an industrial design context is utterly

useless, because the creations we produce would be of no value if

nobody uses them.

Some products and product spheres carry with them so many different

types of value to their users, that it might actually be hard trying to create

a better solution than the ones already on the market. If we look at the

world of coffee, one quickly realizes that had it not been for the social

aspect, but only a utilitarian aspect (which is quite limited, since coffee

equals close to no nutritional value), our lives with coffee would probably

have been completely different. It is the importance of these social,

cultural and almost ritual aspects of coffee that makes for such a suitable

and interesting topic to discuss these terms around.

BRIEF COFFEE HISTORY

Cultures throughout times has enjoyed the brew coming from extracting

the flavors of coffee beans, through roasting them, grinding them and

then combining the coffee powder with water, normally hot, to create a

beverage. As the saying goes, Ethiopian shepherds watched their sheep

get influenced by caffeine and become more energetic from consuming

the wild coffee berries. But the first instances of coffee as a drink stems

all the way back to the 11th century, when Arab traders brought coffee

back with them from the Ethiopian highlands, cultivated the plant and

finally boiled the beans to create a drink. They called it qahwa2 which is a

truncation of qahhwat al-bun or wine of the bean3. From here it spread to

Indian and European markets. The word Coffee enters the English

language in 1598 from the Italian word caffé, through trade between Italy

and North Africa, Egypt and the East. In 1645 the first coffee house

opens in Italy, to be followed by England in 1652, Paris in 1672, New

York in 1697 and Berlin in 17214.

Coffee as a beverage has through all its lifetime presented the

opportunity to socialize and interact. The term “penny universities” was

coined in the 18th century, as a description of certain English coffee

houses, where intellectual debate was prominent and a cup of coffee

cost a penny. Through history it has also attracted religious and even

mythical status, the governor of Mecca banned coffee in 15115, saying it

lead to unholy activities in the coffee houses. The Pope Clement VIII had

to baptize the drink in 1594 as a response to his priests saying it was

“the devil’s drink”. Even today the drink still holds some mysteries; the

effect coffee has on the human body has proven hard to document.

3

Though some stimulant effects is agreed upon, there is speculation

around its positive medical effect on certain illnesses. In an interview with

Forbes Magazine6 Peter R. Martin, a professor of psychiatry and

pharmacology at Vanderbilt University states the following:

“Predominantly in epidemiologic studies, there have been associations

between coffee consumption and lowered rates of certain illnesses, like

suicide, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, Type II diabetes, colon cancer

and heart disease”. He goes on to say: “There's no compelling evidence

that shows it's harmful, and everyday there's more evidence that shows

coffee is beneficial”. At the same time it is widely agreed upon that

ingestion should be held at reasonable level, because of a few health

concerns, one is the connection made between gastric ulcer, the

bacteria Helicobacter pylori and the effect coffee has on acidic

production in the stomach7.

HOW WE MAKE COFFEE

As already mentioned there is a lot of processes that have to come

together when producing a cup of coffee, all the way from cultivation, to

drying, through roasting to finally adding water into the mix. A lot of

things have happened to all of the different pieces of this puzzle through

times. As a designer I believe in a holistic approach in understanding the

entire process, but for the scope of this discussion I feel that it is most

purposeful to discuss the latter stage of this process, to be specific: the

equipment/process that puts the ground coffee beans in contact with

water to extract the flavor from the coffee bean – called either extraction

or brewing. There are several ways of executing this final step in making

a cup of coffee; each produces a slightly different tasting beverage. What

makes these iterations of the coffee making processes interesting to the

discussion of the terms evolution, revolution and paradigm shift is that

they have developed throughout the lifespan of coffee existence.

The first crude steps in making a cup of coffee were those of the pioneer

Arabs, which simply meant boiling the coffee beans in water.

Interestingly enough, this process

stuck around up until Melitta Bentz in

1908 became fed up with making

coffee from boiling those ground

coffee beans wrapped in a piece of

cloth. She then used her ingenuity to

create, and receive a patent for, the

worlds first cone shaped “filter top

device lined with filter paper”8. This

became the point of departure for the automatic drip coffee maker we

know today.

The espresso has in some cultural contexts become the holy grail of

coffee making. This might be attributed to the singleness and purity of

this highly concentrated flavor experience. Its status could also be

2

PEOPLE AT THE CORE

Mankind or people are at the core of all of these terms. There are of

course exceptions to this statement, for example could a scientific

paradigm relate to science itself, but then again what relevance would

science hold if mankind would not benefit from it? Evolution itself is to a

certain extent built on mankind’s inherent will to reach higher, be

stronger and see longer. As I see it, leaving people out of the equation

when talking about these terms in an industrial design context is utterly

useless, because the creations we produce would be of no value if

nobody uses them.

Some products and product spheres carry with them so many different

types of value to their users, that it might actually be hard trying to create

a better solution than the ones already on the market. If we look at the

world of coffee, one quickly realizes that had it not been for the social

aspect, but only a utilitarian aspect (which is quite limited, since coffee

equals close to no nutritional value), our lives with coffee would probably

have been completely different. It is the importance of these social,

cultural and almost ritual aspects of coffee that makes for such a suitable

and interesting topic to discuss these terms around.

BRIEF COFFEE HISTORY

Cultures throughout times has enjoyed the brew coming from extracting

the flavors of coffee beans, through roasting them, grinding them and

then combining the coffee powder with water, normally hot, to create a

beverage. As the saying goes, Ethiopian shepherds watched their sheep

get influenced by caffeine and become more energetic from consuming

the wild coffee berries. But the first instances of coffee as a drink stems

all the way back to the 11th century, when Arab traders brought coffee

back with them from the Ethiopian highlands, cultivated the plant and

finally boiled the beans to create a drink. They called it qahwa2 which is a

truncation of qahhwat al-bun or wine of the bean3. From here it spread to

Indian and European markets. The word Coffee enters the English

language in 1598 from the Italian word caffé, through trade between Italy

and North Africa, Egypt and the East. In 1645 the first coffee house

opens in Italy, to be followed by England in 1652, Paris in 1672, New

York in 1697 and Berlin in 17214.

Coffee as a beverage has through all its lifetime presented the

opportunity to socialize and interact. The term “penny universities” was

coined in the 18th century, as a description of certain English coffee

houses, where intellectual debate was prominent and a cup of coffee

cost a penny. Through history it has also attracted religious and even

mythical status, the governor of Mecca banned coffee in 15115, saying it

lead to unholy activities in the coffee houses. The Pope Clement VIII had

to baptize the drink in 1594 as a response to his priests saying it was

“the devil’s drink”. Even today the drink still holds some mysteries; the

effect coffee has on the human body has proven hard to document.

5

changed when I learned the Norwegian term innovasjonhøyde, which

roughly translates into “height of innovation”. It is used frequently in

evaluating entrepreneurial processes and business start-ups as well as a

criteria for receiving patents from Patentstyret in Norway. The term

implies that there is a scale to which one can measure how great the

advance and improvement the new solution holds over the existing. I

personally believe that innovation is based on either observation of what

is and what has been precedence, or through discovery of something

completely new. Then what about evolution? When innovation is either a

mere observation or a “stumble upon”-discovery, are not most things

then evolutionary? Again, the answer must be both yes and no. Take for

instance the story about the Ethiopian shepherd discovering the

energizing effect of caffeine on his sheep; even though he stumbled upon

this phenomenon he had both the opportunity and ability of turning this

into something valuable. On the other hand one can argue that this is a

natural and evolutionary step that would have come sooner or later. This

brings forth another important aspect to take into consideration, timing

and context. Our story of coffee would have been quite different had it

not been for the Arab traders that understood the coffee berries potential

and experimented with the making of a beverage from them. So then, to

which one of these two parties can we attribute innovation, and to which

can we attribute evolution? I dare say that there is a certain height of

innovation within both steps, whereas evolution clearly lies in taking the

existing coffee beans and evolving them, as a product, into a beverage.

NORWEGIANS AND THE COFFEE BAR REVOLUTION

Historically the Norwegians have not been very sophisticated in their way

of consuming coffee. One might ask what good is there in drinking sour

coffee from a kaffi-lars (the popular name for the kettle for boiling a mix

of water and some ground coffee)? The answer lies within the culture

revolving the kaffi-lars.

When seated around a

bonfire in a scenic

nature setting with the

kettle simmering in front

of you, then trying to

pour without getting too

much of the grounds

into your cup, it all fits perfectly with the image of Norwegians as a

people of nature with their own unique culture of making do with what

they have.

Then in 1994 something happened, Kaffebrenneriet put up their first

coffee bar at Bislet, Oslo. Overnight more exotic ways of having your

caffeine fix was available to the masses. I remember going there as a 14

year old boy, not even liking coffee, but I was completely wooed by this

continental coffee culture. Kaffebrenneriet themselves expanded heavily

over the years, and still continues to do so, but at the same time they

opened up the door for a new culture to gain foothold in the old-

4

attributed to the fact that it is quite hard to produce a decent tasting cup

of espresso. There are several reasons for this, firstly the extraction time

is greatly reduced (in comparison to other procedures) to somewhere

between 20 and 30 seconds, secondly the total amount of finished

beverage in the cup is also greatly reduced, which again concentrates

and saturates the flavor. The

smaller margins raise the

importance of the quality of the

beans (or bean mixture), the

quality of the roasting process,

the nature of the packing of the

ground coffee (called tamping) as

well as the temperature and

pressure of the water used in the

extraction. They are all vital to

taste of the final product. This

process came to life with the invention of the espresso machine by Luigi

Bezzera in Italy 1901, and is therefore relatively young.

Without going into detail other ways of producing coffee, that either was

widely used at some point or still is popular, includes the vacuum

percolator pot, the French press, the stove top espresso maker and the

automatic drip coffee maker to mention a few. They all represent

variations of each other and they all have in common the use of roasted

and ground coffee beans that come in contact with water. One process

stands out from the ones above; instant coffee. A process invented in

1901 by Satori Kato in Chicago, later refined and commercialized with

the introduction of Nestlé’s Nescafé in 1938. What differentiates this

process from the others is that the majority of effort to produce the

beverage is taken off the consumer’s hands and put into a mass-

production environment. Through freeze drying concentrated coffee at

the factory, the only thing the consumer is left to do is add a teaspoon of

Nescafé (or equivalent) into a cup, add hot water, swirl for a second and

then drink.

INNOVATION AND EVOLUTION

What is true innovation? Is there such a thing? And can we see any

examples of this in the world of coffee? I have always been a pessimist

when it comes to the use of this term. I have tended to look at true

innovation as a quite limited term which really could not be used for more

than a handful of milestones throughout history, like for instance the

invention of fire, the wheel, penicillin, and perhaps gunpowder. This all

5

changed when I learned the Norwegian term innovasjonhøyde, which

roughly translates into “height of innovation”. It is used frequently in

evaluating entrepreneurial processes and business start-ups as well as a

criteria for receiving patents from Patentstyret in Norway. The term

implies that there is a scale to which one can measure how great the

advance and improvement the new solution holds over the existing. I

personally believe that innovation is based on either observation of what

is and what has been precedence, or through discovery of something

completely new. Then what about evolution? When innovation is either a

mere observation or a “stumble upon”-discovery, are not most things

then evolutionary? Again, the answer must be both yes and no. Take for

instance the story about the Ethiopian shepherd discovering the

energizing effect of caffeine on his sheep; even though he stumbled upon

this phenomenon he had both the opportunity and ability of turning this

into something valuable. On the other hand one can argue that this is a

natural and evolutionary step that would have come sooner or later. This

brings forth another important aspect to take into consideration, timing

and context. Our story of coffee would have been quite different had it

not been for the Arab traders that understood the coffee berries potential

and experimented with the making of a beverage from them. So then, to

which one of these two parties can we attribute innovation, and to which

can we attribute evolution? I dare say that there is a certain height of

innovation within both steps, whereas evolution clearly lies in taking the

existing coffee beans and evolving them, as a product, into a beverage.

NORWEGIANS AND THE COFFEE BAR REVOLUTION

Historically the Norwegians have not been very sophisticated in their way

of consuming coffee. One might ask what good is there in drinking sour

coffee from a kaffi-lars (the popular name for the kettle for boiling a mix

of water and some ground coffee)? The answer lies within the culture

revolving the kaffi-lars.

When seated around a

bonfire in a scenic

nature setting with the

kettle simmering in front

of you, then trying to

pour without getting too

much of the grounds

into your cup, it all fits perfectly with the image of Norwegians as a

people of nature with their own unique culture of making do with what

they have.

Then in 1994 something happened, Kaffebrenneriet put up their first

coffee bar at Bislet, Oslo. Overnight more exotic ways of having your

caffeine fix was available to the masses. I remember going there as a 14

year old boy, not even liking coffee, but I was completely wooed by this

continental coffee culture. Kaffebrenneriet themselves expanded heavily

over the years, and still continues to do so, but at the same time they

opened up the door for a new culture to gain foothold in the old-

4

attributed to the fact that it is quite hard to produce a decent tasting cup

of espresso. There are several reasons for this, firstly the extraction time

is greatly reduced (in comparison to other procedures) to somewhere

between 20 and 30 seconds, secondly the total amount of finished

beverage in the cup is also greatly reduced, which again concentrates

and saturates the flavor. The

smaller margins raise the

importance of the quality of the

beans (or bean mixture), the

quality of the roasting process,

the nature of the packing of the

ground coffee (called tamping) as

well as the temperature and

pressure of the water used in the

extraction. They are all vital to

taste of the final product. This

process came to life with the invention of the espresso machine by Luigi

Bezzera in Italy 1901, and is therefore relatively young.

Without going into detail other ways of producing coffee, that either was

widely used at some point or still is popular, includes the vacuum

percolator pot, the French press, the stove top espresso maker and the

automatic drip coffee maker to mention a few. They all represent

variations of each other and they all have in common the use of roasted

and ground coffee beans that come in contact with water. One process

stands out from the ones above; instant coffee. A process invented in

1901 by Satori Kato in Chicago, later refined and commercialized with

the introduction of Nestlé’s Nescafé in 1938. What differentiates this

process from the others is that the majority of effort to produce the

beverage is taken off the consumer’s hands and put into a mass-

production environment. Through freeze drying concentrated coffee at

the factory, the only thing the consumer is left to do is add a teaspoon of

Nescafé (or equivalent) into a cup, add hot water, swirl for a second and

then drink.

INNOVATION AND EVOLUTION

What is true innovation? Is there such a thing? And can we see any

examples of this in the world of coffee? I have always been a pessimist

when it comes to the use of this term. I have tended to look at true

innovation as a quite limited term which really could not be used for more

than a handful of milestones throughout history, like for instance the

invention of fire, the wheel, penicillin, and perhaps gunpowder. This all

7

any factors that were not already there from before. Indeed, it was a

small revolution with quite a lot of real people involved, but there is not

much height of innovation present, there is little or no evolution going on

and finally, it did probably not contain enough fundamental change to be

called a paradigm shift either.

EXAMPLE OF THE FUTURE

One of the most interesting things on what has happened over the recent

20 years or so is the geographical expansion of the tradition of single

serve coffee. It originated with the Italian espresso makers’ ability to

produce only a very small amount of beverage, best suited for one, or

maybe two cups of coffee. With the ever-growing number of coffee bars

and the rising interest in high quality coffee beverages a small company

from Seattle has created a highly advanced, programmable machine for

making a single serve regular cup of brewed coffee, called the Clover9.

The Clover is a quite costly machine, and at 11000$ it was intended for

use in select independent and idealistic coffee shops. What the Clover

does is combine the finest machinery for creating a single cup of brewed

coffee with programmable electronics that control everything from water

temperature to the amount of vacuum applied in the brewing process.

The giant American coffee chain Starbucks has just bought the company

behind Clover, and the machine will be installed in their cafés around the

world. Starbucks is hoping to raise the quality of their coffee back to a

standard that has been long lost in a huge commercial machinery of

streamlined logistics and mass production. It remains to see if the fairly

innovative, high tech venture into future of coffee making can create a

small revolution for a huge chain like Starbucks, or if the value of this

evolutionary step is lost when the enthusiastic baristas of the small

coffee shops are out of the picture.

TO SUM UP

There are always several factors to consider when discussing these term

in relation to industrial design. The people, time, the different natures of

products are all part of deciding upon how we use the actual terms. In

general one can say that evolution stands on the shoulders of its

6

fashioned domain of the kaffi-lars. Today we see people enjoying their

small espressos everywhere: on the bus, in the classroom and even

around the bonfire.

This is without doubt a revolution, and it is a revolution with masses of

people in it. The commercial success was substantial, but what was it

based on? Again, this can be answered by underlining the importance of

context and timing. The product certainly was not new, most Norwegians

had knowledge about other ways of brewing coffee. Some ways had

actually managed to find a way into our everyday lives, like for example

instant coffee. What triggered this revolution was the impeccable timing

the founders of Kaffebrenneriet had when deciding to establish their

chain of coffee bars. The context was a young, urban generation, hungry

for trends and fashion coming from larger metropolitan centers around

the world. When also adding great taste into the mix it is easy to

understand how this revolution came about. Interestingly, the only aspect

of innovation that can be pointed to here is the observation of a market

being ready for an already existing product.

IS IT A PARADIGM SHIFT?

One can hardly discuss the word paradigm without relating it to who or

what it might be a paradigm to. The definition of the word paradigm

found in Norsk Fremmedordbok (Norwegian dictionary of foreign words)

can be translated into: a shared fundamental view amongst the

performers in a scientific area. I would argue that the context does not

necessarily have to be scientific. The context will arguably always include

humans, since intelligence is required to understand a common

fundamental view. This fundamental view might also be nothing more

than a general understanding of how stuff work at a very basic level. This

again makes it possible to discuss this term in relation to the world of

coffee. I can imagine being served a fresh cup of coffee, after having

used coffee berries for nothing more than chewing; this must have been

an experience so different that it shifts the entire understanding and the

paradigm of how to consume coffee. One could also argue that the

solutions that made simplified coffee making at home available to the

masses, changed the way we live with coffee, like for example the

automatic drip coffee maker and instant coffee. The easy access to a

cup of coffee and the availability of these products made for a shift of

paradigm to the drinkers of coffee around the world. None of these

events has happened overnight, but in hindsight we can look upon them

with confirmation and clearly see the effect they have had on the

paradigms of the world of coffee.

Then what about the Norwegian coffee bar revolution, you might ask?

Even though it represented a quite substantial change in habits over a

relatively short period of time, I feel hard pressed to call this a paradigm

shift. The reason is that it probably did not change our understanding of

the way we consume coffee in any considerable way, and it did not add

7

any factors that were not already there from before. Indeed, it was a

small revolution with quite a lot of real people involved, but there is not

much height of innovation present, there is little or no evolution going on

and finally, it did probably not contain enough fundamental change to be

called a paradigm shift either.

EXAMPLE OF THE FUTURE

One of the most interesting things on what has happened over the recent

20 years or so is the geographical expansion of the tradition of single

serve coffee. It originated with the Italian espresso makers’ ability to

produce only a very small amount of beverage, best suited for one, or

maybe two cups of coffee. With the ever-growing number of coffee bars

and the rising interest in high quality coffee beverages a small company

from Seattle has created a highly advanced, programmable machine for

making a single serve regular cup of brewed coffee, called the Clover9.

The Clover is a quite costly machine, and at 11000$ it was intended for

use in select independent and idealistic coffee shops. What the Clover

does is combine the finest machinery for creating a single cup of brewed

coffee with programmable electronics that control everything from water

temperature to the amount of vacuum applied in the brewing process.

The giant American coffee chain Starbucks has just bought the company

behind Clover, and the machine will be installed in their cafés around the

world. Starbucks is hoping to raise the quality of their coffee back to a

standard that has been long lost in a huge commercial machinery of

streamlined logistics and mass production. It remains to see if the fairly

innovative, high tech venture into future of coffee making can create a

small revolution for a huge chain like Starbucks, or if the value of this

evolutionary step is lost when the enthusiastic baristas of the small

coffee shops are out of the picture.

TO SUM UP

There are always several factors to consider when discussing these term

in relation to industrial design. The people, time, the different natures of

products are all part of deciding upon how we use the actual terms. In

general one can say that evolution stands on the shoulders of its

6

fashioned domain of the kaffi-lars. Today we see people enjoying their

small espressos everywhere: on the bus, in the classroom and even

around the bonfire.

This is without doubt a revolution, and it is a revolution with masses of

people in it. The commercial success was substantial, but what was it

based on? Again, this can be answered by underlining the importance of

context and timing. The product certainly was not new, most Norwegians

had knowledge about other ways of brewing coffee. Some ways had

actually managed to find a way into our everyday lives, like for example

instant coffee. What triggered this revolution was the impeccable timing

the founders of Kaffebrenneriet had when deciding to establish their

chain of coffee bars. The context was a young, urban generation, hungry

for trends and fashion coming from larger metropolitan centers around

the world. When also adding great taste into the mix it is easy to

understand how this revolution came about. Interestingly, the only aspect

of innovation that can be pointed to here is the observation of a market

being ready for an already existing product.

IS IT A PARADIGM SHIFT?

One can hardly discuss the word paradigm without relating it to who or

what it might be a paradigm to. The definition of the word paradigm

found in Norsk Fremmedordbok (Norwegian dictionary of foreign words)

can be translated into: a shared fundamental view amongst the

performers in a scientific area. I would argue that the context does not

necessarily have to be scientific. The context will arguably always include

humans, since intelligence is required to understand a common

fundamental view. This fundamental view might also be nothing more

than a general understanding of how stuff work at a very basic level. This

again makes it possible to discuss this term in relation to the world of

coffee. I can imagine being served a fresh cup of coffee, after having

used coffee berries for nothing more than chewing; this must have been

an experience so different that it shifts the entire understanding and the

paradigm of how to consume coffee. One could also argue that the

solutions that made simplified coffee making at home available to the

masses, changed the way we live with coffee, like for example the

automatic drip coffee maker and instant coffee. The easy access to a

cup of coffee and the availability of these products made for a shift of

paradigm to the drinkers of coffee around the world. None of these

events has happened overnight, but in hindsight we can look upon them

with confirmation and clearly see the effect they have had on the

paradigms of the world of coffee.

Then what about the Norwegian coffee bar revolution, you might ask?

Even though it represented a quite substantial change in habits over a

relatively short period of time, I feel hard pressed to call this a paradigm

shift. The reason is that it probably did not change our understanding of

the way we consume coffee in any considerable way, and it did not add

9

ENDNOTES / REFERENCE

1 Google.com. search words: <design site:dagbladet.no>. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008)

http://www.google.no/search?hl=no&q=design+site%3Adagbladet.no&btnG=Google-

s%C3%B8k&meta=

2 Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Word entry: Coffee. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coffee

3 Wikipedia. History of coffee. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffee

4 New Paritisan. "Suave Molecules of Mocha" -- Coffee, Chemistry, and Civilization.

(retrieved 21st Sept. 2008)

http://www.newpartisan.com/home/suave-molecules-of-mocha-coffee-chemistry-and-

civilization.html

5 Melitta. Coffee Academe - History of coffee. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008) http://www.melitta.com/historyofcoffee,166.html

6 Forbes Magazine. Your Health: Coffee Perks. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008)

http://www.forbes.com/health/2005/10/11/coffee-health-benefits-cx_sy_1012feat_ls.html

7 The New York Times. Health Guide: Gastric Ulcer. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008) http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/gastric-ulcer/lifestyle-changes.html

8 Melitta. About Mellitta. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008) http://www.melitta.com/melittahistory,159.html

9 Wired Magazine. The Coffee Fix. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008)

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/magazine/16-08/mf_clover?currentPage=3

8

precedence, revolution might speed up time and actually jump a few

evolutionary steps but not necessarily, the paradigms of a specific field

relates to a common understanding of things and is all about the people

it involves. I find that it is hard to find the “right” answer to all the facets

of these terms, and in the end, there probably is no way of defining

clearly without setting a context and a perimeter. From time to time a

designer might be presented with ideas with that have a substantial

height of innovation, with the potential of leading to a revolution and

perhaps also a paradigm shift in the long run, but it can be hard to tell in

advance. Success is always hard to predict.

To mankind’s inherent will to reach higher, be stronger and see longer, I

feel that we in today’s world of powerful market forces, can add a lot of

commercial slogans to this list, such as: the newest, the fastest, the most

expensive and so on. Both mankind and the market itself will continue to

be the driving forces in the rush to evolve and revolutionize the world

around us. Whether it is built on premises that allows for healthy growth

for our planet, or in fact the grim sounding possibility of the opposite,

mankind will always have the need for social interaction and cultural

qualities which certainly makes for a good outlook for continuous

developments in the world of coffee.

9

ENDNOTES / REFERENCE

1 Google.com. search words: <design site:dagbladet.no>. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008)

http://www.google.no/search?hl=no&q=design+site%3Adagbladet.no&btnG=Google-

s%C3%B8k&meta=

2 Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Word entry: Coffee. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coffee

3 Wikipedia. History of coffee. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffee

4 New Paritisan. "Suave Molecules of Mocha" -- Coffee, Chemistry, and Civilization.

(retrieved 21st Sept. 2008)

http://www.newpartisan.com/home/suave-molecules-of-mocha-coffee-chemistry-and-

civilization.html

5 Melitta. Coffee Academe - History of coffee. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008) http://www.melitta.com/historyofcoffee,166.html

6 Forbes Magazine. Your Health: Coffee Perks. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008)

http://www.forbes.com/health/2005/10/11/coffee-health-benefits-cx_sy_1012feat_ls.html

7 The New York Times. Health Guide: Gastric Ulcer. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008) http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/gastric-ulcer/lifestyle-changes.html

8 Melitta. About Mellitta. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008) http://www.melitta.com/melittahistory,159.html

9 Wired Magazine. The Coffee Fix. (retrieved 21st Sept. 2008)

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/magazine/16-08/mf_clover?currentPage=3

8

precedence, revolution might speed up time and actually jump a few

evolutionary steps but not necessarily, the paradigms of a specific field

relates to a common understanding of things and is all about the people

it involves. I find that it is hard to find the “right” answer to all the facets

of these terms, and in the end, there probably is no way of defining

clearly without setting a context and a perimeter. From time to time a

designer might be presented with ideas with that have a substantial

height of innovation, with the potential of leading to a revolution and

perhaps also a paradigm shift in the long run, but it can be hard to tell in

advance. Success is always hard to predict.

To mankind’s inherent will to reach higher, be stronger and see longer, I

feel that we in today’s world of powerful market forces, can add a lot of

commercial slogans to this list, such as: the newest, the fastest, the most

expensive and so on. Both mankind and the market itself will continue to

be the driving forces in the rush to evolve and revolutionize the world

around us. Whether it is built on premises that allows for healthy growth

for our planet, or in fact the grim sounding possibility of the opposite,

mankind will always have the need for social interaction and cultural

qualities which certainly makes for a good outlook for continuous

developments in the world of coffee.

Peder Torget(+47) 918 54 202

peder@torgetdesign.comwww.torgetdesign.com