Working on the Anza was a unique experience, from prototype to production. Originally designed by Per Ivar Selvaag and Andrew Smith of Montaag, the Anza was well received amongst design blogs and gained immediate interest and press. When I joined the team, I fell in love with the project and was tasked to work out the “kinks” and bring the prototype up to near production quality, so we could run a Kickstarter campaign. The original concrete shell had cracked and was held together with epoxy and the frame was an old Rancilio Silva that had been hacked and re-welded. I adjusted the dimensions slightly to better accommodated internals and wiring. I designed and fabricated a reusable 10 piece, rubber mold and experimented with different concrete/cement mixtures to achieve the industrial, brutalist look of the original. The frame was redesigned to accommodate the concrete shell that could be stamped from two pieces of sheetmetal. After a successful Kickstarter campaign the machines were put into production overseas. Sourcing most of the components was easy and we even got some better parts than the prototype. We did however, run into issues with the concrete shell. Artisan craftsmanship and living materials do not translated as well into mass production as artificial materials do and tends to favor a perfectly smooth finish which did not reflect the design intent. After walking them through our process, an added tooling cost, and several renditions later, they were able to produce the finish we were after. The production models are looking great and the Concrete and Corian machines are currently being shipped to backers, with tremendously positive feedback. Check it out at https://www.anzacoffee.com