| Illy Collection is the name given to sets of truly special cups designed to elevate and enhance the illy coffee experience. Since the concept was first introduced in 1992, an international who's who of artists have graced illy cups with their original designs. Americans James Rosenquist, Robert Rauschenberg; Italians Marco Lodola, Sandro Chia and the legendary filmmakers, Federico Fellini and Francis Ford Coppola are among those who have been inspired by Illy. Prized by collectors all over the world, the illy collections are signed and numbered.
David Byrne's Alien collection is comprised of a sugar bowl reminiscent of a space ship and 4 espresso cups with a twist — each cup has two handles representing the ears of the aliens. Byrne has illustrated the cups with very amusing and colorful faces of outer space visitors. "Today, we are all Aliens", says the artist. "Seeing these small Aliens on the cups, we can recognize parts of ourselves. You only have to look around to see that they are everywhere... on our T-shirts, in night clubs, on skateboards, in movies, on TV, in advertising... We are close to Aliens and they look rather friendly... If you ever wondered what's inside an Alien's head, I can tell you — it's coffee!"
David's alien espresso cups were sold as boxed sets. In addition, a special limited edition of "spaceship" packaging was produced in 2001 and quickly sold out. There were 1,000 units in the spaceship edition, as well as 250 APs. Our limited inventory consists entirely of APs. Please follow the link at the top of the page to purchase AP spaceship sets.
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