ECF02: Authentic Espresso, Made in Italy
Unveiled during Fuorisalone in Smeg's Milan store on Via Moscova, ECF02 is Smeg’s manual espresso machine designed and made in Italy — created to deliver the perfect, authentic Italian espresso at home.
The ECF02 was a continuation of Smeg’s long-standing collaboration with the deepdesign® studio, led by Matteo Bazzicalupo and Raffaella Mangiarotti. Like many small domestic appliances in the range, this project was born from a shared vision: to reimagine a classic product with modern elegance while preserving simplicity, compactness, usability. Most crucially, the product was to be produced in Italy.
Each product begins with a collaborative brief; the meeting point between the company’s goals and the designers’ creative interpretation of the brand and its values. From there, deepdesign® conducts extensive aesthetic and functional research, which builds and shapes the initial concept. This then evolves through close dialogue with Smeg’s technical and product teams into a full-scale aesthetic prototype: a non-functional model that defines the product’s design direction.
Once the form is finalised, the production process begins. In the case of ECF02, this involved simultaneous input from design, production and quality departments, supported by two prestigious institutions: the Department of Technique and Management of Industrial Systems at the University of Padua and the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Bologna.
Manufactured at Smeg’s historic Bonferraro factory in the province of Verona — a 100,000 m² site where Smeg appliances have been made since 1964 — the ECF02 embodies the essence of Italian excellence. The dedicated assembly line was installed in the oldest part of the plant, once home to Smeg's stove production.
The result is a beautifully designed, easy-to-use manual espresso machine that brings café-quality coffee into the home — combining craftsmanship, innovation, and the unmistakable signature of Italian design.
A celebration of form and function, the ECF02 was awarded the prestigious international Good Design Award.
“The award is proof that all the design energy we put into it was liked and appreciated.”
— deepdesign®
