StudioReverse: tea set

This past summer I started a side office with several former UCLA classmates. Currently we're working on several renovations and additions here in Los Angeles, but I have also been toying around with designing a tea set that we'll try to get manufactured.


The cups are inspired by traditional Asian tea boxes, but blends the boxy cups with more figurative baroque geometry. Each cup uses supple spline curves for ergonomics while maintaining selective creased edges to define the form. When all four cups and saucers are placed together, they become periodic, creating a larger symmetrical composition. In section, each cup thickens towards the base and where ones fingers would rest, so as to provide insulation against the hot liquid. The cup thins out by the rim.


The first pass was an attempt at making a western style set with rounded cups with handles. I felt like the set was looking too figurative and wanted something simpler. The boxy cups provide a good background to more complex patterning.

Currently we're working on designing the tea pot, and looking into some graphic options to apply to each cup. I'd like for the tea pot to somehow complete the set, perhaps sitting on top of the cups or nesting on a side.


The entire set, composed into a square


Individual Cups


Plans and Elevations


A first pass at patterning using the scriptographer plug-in for Illustrator. The pattern is an array of rotating and scaled hearts which wrap the cup. Ideally, the pattern is something which has commercial appeal, but also can be appreciated for technique and aesthetic effect.