I love coffee, drinking it, the smell of it, the boost it gives when I’m slow off the mark. So imagine my delight when VW+BS decided to make a contemporary coffee set using the traditional materials of purple clay, more commonly used for the tiny and elaborate teapots in China to serve green tea.
VW+BS has a history of working in old-school materials, such as a bone china collection and a pewter-ware collection. Both of these projects took a traditional (and possibly unfashionable) material to create a contemporary form, changing the way in which we perceive them.
“This has been another compelling challenge for our studio to work in a traditional material with skilled crafts people to bring our architectural thinking to a new collection of small-scale products” says Voon Wong of VW+BS.
The unglazed purple clay has the effect of softening the taste of the water in the same way as activated charcoal. This occurs whether you are serving tea, coffee water or wine and as purple clay is a completely natural material, each piece is unique and differ slightly in colour.
Purple clay is prized because of the absorbent qualities of the material, so for these reasons the set should never be washed using detergents, but rather with water only, and connoisseurs recommend using each vessel for one blend of tea or coffee.
Designer: VW+BS
Manufacturer: Lin’s Ceramics Studio
Year: 2013
Price: £195
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