Architect Jan Kaplicky of Future Systems has designed a table service for Italian brand Alessi.
The Bettina range includes porcelain tableware, glasses and cutlery.
Bettina will be launched on 1 July.
Here's some info from Alessi:
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“Bettina”: table service by Jan Kaplicky, Future Systems
The “Bettina” table service, certainly Alessi's most innovative design in this area, took a long time to complete. It was designed by Future Systems (the designers who, you may remember, were also asked to work on “Tea & Coffee Towers” (2003)). New glasses, new porcelain and new cutlery.
Many sketches, designs and prototypes were needed to achieve the elegant, simple result described by Jan Kaplicky as being “designed for the future. More artistic. More beautiful. Maybe future classics, very much in line with Future Systems’ other architectural and design projects.”
“Porcelain. New shapes in tableware. Shapes which are more closely related to the size, colour and type of the food and drink the items will hold. Also more closely related to the human form – the shapes are almost free, with gentle curves.
Glasses: a very innovative design consisting of two parts: the glass drinking vessel and a plastic “chassis”. You only drink from the glass section, while the holder stays on the table. There is no physical link between them. An extremely simple shape and an unusual idea.
Cutlery: each item in the service has a brand new shape - very original. More elegant, more refined, more beautiful. All made from stainless steel. They certainly don't follow fashion". Jan Kaplicky - Future Systems
The glasses are pretty fricking cool. Not so sure about the rest. The porcelain cups look particularly dumpy, and the cutlery is nothing I’d like to hold in my hand day after day.
gorgeous
1/3 design+1/3 art+1/3 joke
they are the ugliest glasses i’ve ever seen.
and a spoon with off-centre shaft! what a design innovation, having to grip the spoon with a clamping force to avoid stuff landing on your croch.
beautiful!
I like it.
i agree with Mattia
But the plates remind me of hospital kidney dishes …
“Cutlery: each item in the service has a brand new shape – very original. More elegant, more refined, more beautiful. All made from stainless steel. They certainly don’t follow fashion””
What’s this shit? >:)
TRULY BEAUTIFUL
Another poetric, beautiful and elegant design by Future Systems.
Jan Kaplicky is still so far ahead of everyone else in the design world!
I can imagine in a minimalist setting these pieces would work beautifully. The designs seems rational especially the dinner plates. Well done!
I would like to see it :”Many sketches, designs and prototypes were needed to achieve the elegant, simple result described by Jan Kaplicky as being “designed for the future. “
I really love the work but i’m a little concerned about the spoons and knife… what if people aren’t right handed?
Viktor. I hear that it feels like someone else is feeding if you use your left hand.
Left-handedness is relatively uncommon: over 90% of the adult population is right-handed. Alessi target market is smaller
now how many lines must the comment be…?
is there room for smth more than a “nice” or “beautiful” or “ugly”?
is this a space to share tastes or ideas? c’mon dezeen! and don’t ask for moderation.
alessi’s roadmap is blurred since almost a decade ago, keeps on scouting people from different fields to get smth new, which is ok, but they often get aleatory collections like this, in which each element could be evitable, and the whole thing lacks coherence, far from pushing the line forward as they used to, years back.
anway opinions are subjective, and so are designs; so no one’s right except for jan kaplicky….
So sexy!!! So smooth….so elegant. So new. Well done!
Interseted
You can find on web the of Alessi’s lauching products process of Alessi, i think the roadmap is clear…. but the road is more and more difficult
managing design
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/managingdesign/Design-at-Alessi/
To Mattia
…
Your comment highlights the fact regarding how inaccurate one’s eye is. For me especially the porcelain and cutlery sets were a love at first sight – yes, I was viewing those at an internet shop. So I purchased the sets in both the greatest and the medium size (including the plates) immediately. And let me tell you, in reality these things are completely out of this world!!! The cups look like they are in constant movement but the feeling they give out is not a nervous one, rather like a peaceful and natural flow. Quite hallucinogenic but very pleasant feeling, one get transfixed looking at this set. Every single part of this whole set is a piece of art on its own. R.I.P. Jan.
To OMAR
…
See my earlier comment. Once actually having any of this stuff in ones hand, even the most daft person realizes these things fulfill the requirements for everyday use very well. How would they sell otherwise and why would they be sold for use? Artistic design is about getting most out of things while allowing them to be beautiful at the same time. So if you do know how to use cutlery in a first place, the Kaplicky spoons will fail neither you nor your fancy clothes.