A firm reality called I.P.A. Industria Porcellane S.p.A. (Porcelain Industry Ltd.), the most important Italian company producing cups designed for the professional market, has been existing for over 50 years. Run by the brothers and sisters Riccardo, Roberto, Laura and Daniela Sala, I.P.A is teamed up with Confindustria Ceramica (General Confederation of Italian ceramics industry), which promotes the Italian product protection in several fields, sponsoring it through the biggest media with a logo that marks all ceramic products made in Italy and can only be used by those who satisfy specific requirements. By introducing the new mark of origin “Ceramics of Italy” that came into effect at the beginning of 2009, all ceramic productions made exclusively in factories located on Italian ground wanted to be kept under control and protected. Now, only products that have actually been made in Italy can boast the prestigious Ceramics of Italy mark.
Creativeness, taste and elegance are some of the aspects the company does never lose sight of; above all when innovative projects of forms able to combine ergonomics and quality in a joined tactile and visual experience of high profile are received. It’s no accident that all I.M.A. productions are patented Europewide.
The commitment towards overall quality and the continuous challenges of searching new forms push the company to lavish huge energy into developing their technologies, studying prototypes and mass-producing cups and products exclusively addressed to professional users. Projects and production systems are conceived on a yearly basis within the technical office, which manage to guarantee a great, acknowledged check of raw materials, quality and necessary standards during the whole progress, in order to “take out of the oven” (it’s just the case to say it!) different forms and models. In the last years a new and innovative computerized design centre has been arising thanks to continuous computer and technological developments, which manages to accompany the client almost real-time even through the creation of an ad hoc studied and personalized cup.
Design and technical features a cup for professional use has to have, are never lost of sight. All created forms and exclusive models are obviously registered and proprietary, helping to protect each single project from danger of falsification. Moreover, the company has a valued graphic studio that faithfully reproduces any image, “dressing” each model uniquely or suggesting different graphic solutions in order to promote one’s own brand in a more assertive way; for example through digital tridimensional models. Many designers, architects, artists, like Oliviero Toscani, Goran Lelas and Matilde Domestico cooperate with I.M.A., indicating forms, studies and projects that are always creative and innovative. In the production and decoration of porcelain, it is assured that each article meets the current European as well as the even more restrictive norms of the United States as for cession of plumb and cadmium in products in contact with food. Moreover, in terms of safety and traceability of goods, in line with the Ministerial Decree of February 1st, 2007, provenance of products is certified, in order to guarantee that the articles coming out from the factory have been made exclusively in Italy.
All this makes I.P.A the leading made in Italy company as for production of roasting products, reference point of that field; always a step forward than the others, able to look beyond current trends. The company produces coffee cups in hard feldspatic porcelain with technologies that have no and are able to stand comparison, because they’re made with the same passion that links millions of people every day to the most popular gesture bound to taste, friendship and to themselves: drinking a good coffee!
