Last year, I traveled to visit a certain German manufacturer of high-end power tools to cover them for Core77. When I returned to the ‘States, inspired, I immediately purchased an expensive European machine.
No, it wasn’t another Festool, though I’ve bought several; I bought a Nespresso Pixie. There was one of them in the hotel room in Germany, and I’d gotten hooked on the convenience of having good-quality, instant espresso every morning. I’ve now had the machine for nearly a year and it’s fantastic, but the catch is that you’ve got to buy the capsules from Nespresso, exclusively in whatever blends they offer.
Maybe not for long. San-Francisco-based entrepreneur Kevin Lee has managed to reverse-engineer the capsule mold, allowing him to make his own Nespresso capsules. He’s also figured out the one for Keurig K-Cups, and he’s about to Kickstart a custom coffee business called Doers that can accommodate both machines:
The cost of tooling seems suspiciously low at just $10,000—has the cost of cutting steel come down since my day?—and Lee’s easily surpassed it with about $11,500 at press time and 21 days left to pledge. According to the Doers website it seems the Nespresso capsules will be priced comparably to the real deal (just under $1/capsule if purchased in bulk), with the added benefit of getting to choose your own roast. But I have to wonder: Do you reckon Nespresso and Keurig’s lawyers will just stand by, or are they currently drafting up C&D’s?
Another thorny question: We know it’s not ethical to knock off a company’s product, but is it okay to knock off the thing you insert inside their product? And isn’t that technically also their product? Copying the capsules gives the consumer more choice and allows them to unshackle themselves from the original company’s ecosystem, but what will the lawyers say?
I, for one, feel conflicted. As a Nespresso machine owner I welcome the increased options Lee’s business would provide. But as a designer, I’m not sure how I’d feel if they were my capsules being duplicated.
http://www.core77.com/posts/50157/This-Custom-Coffee-Kickstartee-Has-Reverse-Engineered-the-Nespresso-Capsule-Mold-to-Offer-More-Flavors