THE COLLECTOR
He is three years younger than the Faema E-61, the famous brewing group that launched in 1961. He’s a full head of steam when it comes to exceptional items: Thomas Wenk, restaurateur, management consultant and collector from Bayreuth. To him the espresso machines he has amassed in the past five years are a bridging to one of his cafes – the Rossi in Bayreuth. A bar in a baroque-palace, equipped with the furniture of a bar in Saronno, established around 1900. “A manic student collector, Julius Groten, offered me an espresso machine that was too large for his collection, in 2008. The three group Gaggia America seemed to be a great exhibit for the café. The machine ignited a fire that burns to this day: “I actually only wanted to assemble a small collection that I was able to display in the Rossi”, says Thomas Wenk. The collection is growing – and growing. And keeps on growing. Wenk has managed to collect around 70 machines produced by various manufacturers up until the 80s. And he is always in search of fancy machines. Not only for machines by the large manufacturers – Gaggia, La Cimbali or Faema – but also machines by small manufacturers, that have long disappeared from the scene. However his focus lies not only on the superior Italians: “German manufacturers for instance Palux, Rowenta and WMF have produced pretty machines as well. I also have machines from France, Austria, Switzerland or Spain.” His goal: To open a small espresso machine museum with gastronomy somewhere along the way, thus a reversed approach to the usual one – not finding exhibits for a gastronomy, but rather a gastronomy as the “crema” of the exhibit.