Japanese Design group D-BROS have created a reflective collection of cups and saucers that combines the group’s passion for graphic design, tableware and user experience.
Above Image: Cup & Saucer, Waltz, D-BROS.
When seen together, the cup and saucer appear as a matching set, but when the cup is lifted its pattern slides off the surface revealing a blank metallic exterior. The Hasami porcelain cups are coated with the element palladium for its reflective properties and the saucers are graphically decorated in a variety of patterns. The decoration ranges from color gradation to complex fashion patterns, to graphic design inspired line-work. When the reflective cup is placed in its decorated saucer, it takes on the saucer’s design which appears distorted on the cup’s surface.
The designers state:
“A cup and saucer that dance together like a match made in heaven. But when separated, the music suddenly stops. A reflective palladium surface on the cups enable this magic. The vivid colors on the saucer are reflected off the cup, producing the illusion that the cup too bears the same pattern. But when the cup is lifted off the saucer its true colors are revealed. Made from Hasami porcelain, a specialty from the Hakata region, each cup is handmade by skilled artisans who ensure that the surfaces are completely even. After all, even the slightest scratch would create distortions throughout the reflection.”
When drinking from one of D-BROS’ cups, watching the pattern evolve to fit my specific use and surroundings would be flatteringly exclusive. An addicting sensation, leaving me feeling betrayed as the cup effortlessly transforms back when returned to its saucer. These cups to do not form their identity around a person or place as pots often do. Instead, like a desperate lover, they change instantly for whomever/whatever will hold them in the moment.
The cup and saucers are available in three patterned collections, “From Dawn Till Dusk;” “Waltz;” and “Rivulets of the Heart,” and can be purchased on the D-BROS website for ￥7,560 (~$70) each.
Justin Crowe is Writer-at-Large for CFile.
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Reflecting cups by D-BROS.
A designer with D-BROS at work in the studio.
Very nice. But of course, it’s not the first time reflective cups have been paired with patterned saucers. Namely, Damien Hirst and Richard Brendon…