Interview about Amytis Cup, winner of the A' Bakeware, Tableware, Drinkware and Cookware Design Award 2025
The design inspiration comes from the magnificent hanging gardens of Babylon built by Nebuchadnezzar for his wife Amytis. It is also claimed that these gardens were built by Queen Amytis to make her happy because she missed the green hills and gardens of her homeland. This design was inspired by the vines on each level of the gardens. It was intended to transfer the feeling of holding a bunch of grapes to porcelain. The shape of the cup evokes a bunch of grapes and evokes a tactile sensation. It offers a new usage experience by differentiating the user's experience of using just a cup.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsInspired by Babylon's Hanging Gardens, we wanted to make this unique story touch daily life. We have created an experience that combines the past with the past and the present by carrying the hanging plants of the gardens to the surface of the cup. The Amytis Cup was a design that made a functional form of an ancient tale.
We wanted to interpret the organic form of grape cluster both aesthetically and easily. We arranged the rhythm of the protrusions on the surface in accordance with the grasp of the hand. Thus, we obtained a form that offers both visually rich and ergonomically comfortable sensory experience.
The fact that the fine Limoges porcelain was a fragile and difficult to hold shape by nature was the biggest challenge to produce the complex form of design. In particular, we have developed long trials and special patterns to ensure that the protrusions resembling grape cluster are left properly during casting and to maintain the form after cooking. We have repeatedly revised the production process to make the material both aesthetics and durable.
The most important goal for us was to create a form that made the story feel but did not make it difficult to use. We moved the emotional narrative to the texture and organic lines of the cup, but we designed its size and weight according to the ergonomics of a modern cup. Thus, we have created an object that makes it felt the past and can be used easily in daily life.
Developing a special molding method has enabled us to be able to reflect the grape bunch of grape tissue and also maintain the strength of the form. Thanks to this method, while creating a detailed and aesthetic texture on the surface, we paid attention to the ergonomic and useful of the cup. We have achieved a visually rich and durable result.
In modern life, we believe that objects should not be stuck in a single purpose. We wanted to increase functionality and offer freedom to the user by transforming Amytis Cup into a design that can be used in different beverages. We have combined this approach with a aesthetics that adapt to daily rituals.
200 ml of volume and 80 mm diameter, an ergonomic grip and a balanced center of gravity has drawn ideal limits. Thanks to these dimensions, we ensured that each protrusion remains both aesthetic and functional without condensing the complex texture of the design. We carefully optimized the details of the Asma Gardens to make the details of these measures to be read and produced.
3D printing technology was an important tool for us to correctly model the fine details of grape cluster texture. Thanks to this technology in the prototype process, we have repeatedly reviewed and perfect the form. However, in the last production, we maintained handicrafts and made each piece unique by hand finishing the tissues and details on the surface. Thus, we took advantage of both the sensitivity of technology and the spirit of hand making.
With the Amytis Cup, we brought together a story that touches the past. We wanted to create an experience that makes an emotional connection between the user and the user, but when he took it. As Mocco, we care about this emotional bond as well as functionality and aesthetics in every design.
As the Mocco brand, we have developed ourselves to do what is not done and bring the stories of the past to modern designs, and we have many designs that we have implemented in this direction. The most impressive and special one for us was the Amytis Cup; That's why we wanted to participate in the competition with this cup. The fact that this award was awarded the Amytis Cup showed us that we were on the right path and increased our motivation. We will continue to tell stories by doing what is not done in the future as a Mocco brand and keeping functionality and modernism in the forefront.
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