Designer: Sergio Asti (1926 – 2021)

Item: BOCA Decorata Espresso Serving Set for Six

Manufactured by: H.E. Lauffer Co. Inc. (United States) for Industrie Casalinghi Mori (ICM) Italy

Country of origin: United States/Italy

Year made: Designed in 1976 discontinued in 1980s.  This example dates to the late 1970s

Materials: Polished Stainless Steel

Dimensions: Coffeepot 6 5/8” x 6” x 3” in diameter, creamer 4 1/8” x 5 1/8” x 3” in diameter, sugar 2 ¼” and 4” in diameter, cup in saucer 2 1/8” x 4 ¼” in diameter, spoon 3 7/8” long 7/8” wide.  The tray measures ½” x 21” x 12”

Condition: Overall very good to excellent.  Some light surface scratches and the some of the saucers have some light discoloring from age.  The tray also has some more noticeable surface scratches.

Description: This iconic set was designed by Sergio Asti in 1976 for the Italian manufacturer ICM (Industrie Casalinghi Mori) who had the American firm H.E. Lauffer manufacture it until the 1980s.  This set is in very good plus condition with only minimal wear.  We purchased this set from its original owner who bought in the late 1970s.  All pieces except the coffee pot are marked “ICM Inox 18-10 Italy” but the coffee pot is unmarked.  We have seen sets of just six cups, saucers and spoons sell for well over $500.  The coffee pot, creamer and sugar are extremely hard to find, and this is only the third such set we have ever seen.  The other two sets had round trays and no cups or saucers. 21 pieces in all. Because the tray is large this set will be shipped in two separate parcels.

Asti’s BOCA design can be found in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Museum Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, the Denver Art Museum, the Rhode Island School of Design, and others.  His other award-winning designs can also be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Victoria and Albert Museum and others.

Sergio Asti was an Italian architect and designer born in Milan, Italy. After graduating from the Milan Polytechnic, he began his career in the mid-1950s he was an assistant professor of interior architecture from 1953 to 1958.  Asti was considered one of the leading designers of his generation, and he collaborated with some of the most important companies of the time (and today) such as Cassina, Knoll, Poltronova, Zanotta, Gabbianelli, Salviati, Heller, Venini, Arteluce, Artemide, Fontana Arte, and Martinelli.