Finally, after getting and returning a worthless Francis! Francis! X3 (pod only although it was sold as the pod and ground coffee version by lusso.se) I’ve now got a suitable replacement. Even though it’s quite a bit more expensive I found no other machines in the budget class that seemed good or stylish enough, so I re-evaluated the market and looked to the lever designs which are cheaper considering their materials and potential performance than the semi-automatic models.

The Elektra Micro Casa a Leva.

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Cars are usually an collection of cheap plastics and components made to suit as large crowd and as many purposes as possible by using the least common denominator approach. Some are making an effort though; Aston Martin pushes the design andtechnology inthe classic contemporary path while Spyker has created a car full of Steampunk elements.

The Spyker C8 Laviolette, photo by Spyker.

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Most coffee machines look very similar; they are more or less a metal box with a handle on. Some have a few gauges, others have a color. Even thehigh-end machines for home use look fairly identical and quite boring (Isomac, Vibiemme…). Elektra is the exception; they make beautiful machines full of character and style that brings back the best of the Belle Epoque.

The Elektra Belle Epoque. Photo by Elektra.

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Steampunk, the design language based on how the world could have looked now and [a century] into the future if we had taken the path of the steam engine instead of the oil engine, have had a major inpact of some of the most amazing products recently. Seen in watches, cars, motorcycles and hollywood movies, it has made a serious impact much to my delight.

Poisson Oeil by Pierre Matter, photo by Pierre Matter.

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Spyker has now unveiled their offering in the class of road-legal lightweight raceversions of sport cars, the LM85. Direct competitors (on trackdays and for the buyers attention) are the Ferrari 430 Scuderia, Aston Martin N24, Porsche GT3 RS and customized versions of sports and supercars by firms such as Ruf, Gemballa, edo competition and a few others.

The Spyker LM85. Photo by Spyker.

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