We want Londinium I to be distinctive, which inevitably means that it won’t be to everyone’s liking
From day one I felt we had to back up our claims of superior build quality (its not that hard by the way, it’s not like trying to improve on toyota corolla reliability, more like 70s super car) by putting the internals of the machine on show
However, when we saw the polished and clear-coated copper boiler for the first time we were surprised at just how bright it is. initial suggestions were that we would need to place some form of lighting inside the casing to really show the internals off. i had reservations. these polished boilers catch your eye across the width of a factory, they are so bright, you’ve no idea just how bright until you see them in real life
I absolutely loath the current fashion for LED lights around car headlights and anywhere else you can cram them in, especially the blue ones. white interior panels were also considered at one point. having mulled this over and over i decided we needed to do the opposite; to turn down the volume, to make it more subtle.
One day the cast iron texture of the frying pan (above) caught my eye. Then i started thinking about England’s golden age of manufacturing in the industrial revolution when cast iron ruled the world. The dull robust appearance of cast iron provides the ideal visual balance to the bright, eye-catching appearance of freshly polished copper from the boilers and pipework that powered the age of steam.
At that moment we knew what we wanted LONDINIUM I to look like. We would show off the polished copper that will never tarnish, thanks to its protective clear coat baked at 250C (it isn’t a lacquer that is vulnerable to peeling and blistering with the heat of the boiler as it ages). However, we would set the boiler into a space that had the appearance of an engine room. no internal lighting – the faintest light in the room causes the boiler to glint like a lighthouse without internal lighting. this approach will tone things down a bit, and make the overall appearance a bit more subtle
We have chosen a premium grade of powder coat to achieve a similar finish to the cast iron frying pan above. the powder coat will be applied to Zintec, not stainless steel, to ensure a very high strength bond is made between the powder coating and the metal surface. Zintec is the trade name of a galvanised sheet metal product. Zintec is commonly used in household appliances such as washing machines, and automotive components. Unfortunately powder coat does not bond to stainless steel nearly as well as it bonds to Zintec, and it gives a superior finish too
Here is a sample of the powder coat finish we have in mind, which is pretty close in appearance to the frying pan shown above:
I’ve already mentioned that i’ve had to concede that putting this black powder coat finish right across the top of the machine may not prove to be the best idea. Its difficult to convey in words just why, and surprisingly difficult to capture with the camera on my phone, but to give you some idea:
These scratches are actually very subtle, and are almost invisible unless you get the angle of the light just right. we made them by putting the Zintec powder coated sample on the bench, then taking the base of an espresso cup where there is no enamel and pushing down as hard as we could and dragging it across the powder coat as if we were trying to score a line. we repeated this numerous times for several minutes. as you can see, the powder coat doesn’t even look like coming off, but it has removed the gloss on the powder coat, and instead left faint white marks. we’d love to have black powder coat running right over the top plate, but we just don’t think its worth the risk. if it looks scruffy after 5 years you’re going to be disappointed and we’re going to have a time consuming fix on our hands shipping out replacement top plates
Against that backdrop, i hope no one is too upset that the top plate will be just plain old mirror polished stainless. i know that’s a bit soft, but i hope its a decision that will pay off in the long run
Polished stainless will of course show up the scratches especially well, but i don’t think scratched stainless looks tatty in the way that marked powder coat will