ALPHA BEAKERS
Slipcast porcelain, celadon glaze
9*9*18cm, set of 100 mugs
Arita, Japan | 2016
Japan is the nation known for embracing technological advancement. It was always intriguing to me as a child, during the Japanese economic boom period, how open and comfortable they seemed to robotics and artificial intelligence. It appears that we are on the cusp of a new global technological boom era, and with this series of mugs I wanted to create a range of futuristic 'time capsule' vessels. The design is based around the character for 'Japan' - also meaning 'sun', as the country is the furthest point east where sunrise can be seen. This character is a pictograph of the sun, a circle with a dot in the middle. This shape is used for the interior and exterior base of the vessel, and also in semi-circle format as a handle - symbolic of the dawn of a new era. The characters on the sides of the mugs are very subtle and ethereal, and only really visible upon closer inspection - and they reveal imperfections in contrast to the slipcast mould-production of the mugs. It also means that each mug is totally unique. This vessel series was made together with the Stampcoding series.