brew | ABLEN

brew

2022

Individual Project

University of Edinburgh

brew is a compact and portable coffee maker that combines metal craftsmanship with digital making. Designed for campers and van lifers, brew offers a lightweight coffee brewing solution that is easy to transport and store. The design consists of a stainless steel base and a filter top that securely holds the coffee filter and grounds, collapsing together into a 5 cm tall cylindrical form. The project explores how conventional vessel design can be reimagined through a telescopic folding mechanism that improves portability.

Developed as part of the New Making course, brew focuses on combining hands-on metalworking such as cutting and welding, alongside the use of CAD software (Fusion, SolidWorks) to prototype and test 3D-printed components.

Across the UK, people consume

98 million cups of coffee every single day.

25% of that volume is fuelled by daily grind in office and university spaces.

How can the iconic design language of the Bialetti Moka Express be translated into a modern, portable brewing experience?

To decode the Bialetti’s iconic octagonal geometry, I deconstructed its form into a 2D layout before reconstructing it in copper. The process of spot-welding helped me master metalwork foundations and eventually inspired the telescopic structure of brew's portable design.

brew combines a CAD-optimized, custom designed 3D-printed PET-G filter and a stainless steel collector featuring a novel reverse-telescopic construction.

Engineering the waterproof joints for this reverse taper was a challenge, but it ultimately allows the base to nest within the collapsed filter.