'Tea and Coffee Tower' designed by Denton Corker Marshall for Alessi
Object No. 2005/197/1
Melbourne-based architectural firm, Denton Corker Marshall (DCM), designed this tea and coffee set for the Italian design company, Alessi, in 2002. Made from silver (black-chrome finish) and yellow thermoplastic resin, it is one of twenty-two tea and coffee services in the 'Tea & Coffee Towers' released by Alessi in 2003. Twenty-two internationally acclaimed architectural firms form Europe, Asia, Australia and the USA, which Alessi considered to be 'fundamental to the debate on contemporary design', were each commissioned to design one set in the series. The project followed Alessi's highly influential 'Tea and Coffee Piazzas' project of eleven postmodern tea and coffee sets designed by Italian and international architects in 1983. Previewed at the 8th Biennale of Architecture in Venice in 2002, 'Tea and Coffee Towers' demonstrated many different and innovative solutions to a single design brief. Alessi required the sets to consist of a teapot, coffee pot, milk jug, sugar bowl and tray, through experimental research, 'free from the limits usually imposed by industrial mass production'. DCM met Alessi's challenge by creating a micro skyscraper for the table. The design closely relates to the firm's exploration of ideas such as ' how tall can we build, how far can we project', and was directly inspired by their Abu Dhabi tower designed in 1998. When not is use, the set functions as a contemporary table centrepiece with the largest component forming a leaning 'tower'. It can be dismantled into individual containers for use. Set up in 1972 by John Denton, Bill Corker and Barrie Marshall, the award-winning architectural firm of DCM has designed buildings around the world. Their 'Tea & Coffee Tower' complements the Museum's Alessi collection, particularly the 1983 'Tea and Coffee Piazza designed by Aldo Rossi, as well as the company's broader holdings of contemporary design, as an example of architecture-inspired tableware design from one of Australia's leading architectural firms. Eva Czernis-Ryl, Curator, 2005
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Summary
Object Statement
Tea and coffee service, 'Tea & Coffee Tower' series, black and yellow, silver / chrome / thermoplastic resin, designed by Denton Corker Marshall, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2002, made by Alessi, Italy, 2003
Physical Description
Stackable tea and coffee set comprising a teapot, coffeepot, milk jug, sugar bowl, vase and tray. All are made of sterling silver with exteriors finished in black chrome. The teapot and coffeepot have handles and spouts covered with yellow thermoplastic resin coating. The lids and bases interact to both link the elements when the set stands as a tower, and to change the way they sit on the tray and act as coasters for vessels placed directly on the table.
SOURCE
Credit Line
Purchased 2004
Acquisition Date
13 September 2005
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