Lidded Sweetmeat Box from 'Tea and Coffee Service-Prototype 2003'

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Lidded Sweetmeat Box from 'Tea and Coffee Service-Prototype 2003'

Designer Kazuyo Sejima (Japanese, born 1956)

Manufacturer Alessi (Italian (Isola Bella), 1921-present)

Designer Ryue Nishizawa (Japanese, born 1966)

Date2003

Dimensionssweetbox: 5 1/4 x 4 in. (13.3 x 10.2 cm)
diam.: 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)

Mediumsterling silver

ClassificationMetalwork

Credit LinePurchased with funds given by Edith Rathbun in honor of Roger M. Berkowitz

Object number

2004.28

Not on View

DescriptionA tea and coffee set comprised of 9 silver pieces in a silver tray.

Label Text"We sought to create a [tea and coffee] set that would make people happier at the table.” Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa were among the 22 architects invited by Italian design company Alessi in 2003 to design unusual tea and coffee services. Look for the incredible illusion of light and depth created by reflections in the tray. Such illusions are a design feature of their architecture as well. Sejima and Nishizawa and their firm SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates) also designed the remarkable Glass Pavilion on the Toledo Museum of Art’s campus, their first building in the United States. © Protected by copyrightPublished ReferencesMendini, Alessandro ed., Tea and Coffee Towers, Mondadori Electa, Milan, 2003, pp. 167-170, illus.166, 168, 169, 170 (bw sketches), p.171, 172, 173 (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 359, repr. (col.).

Exhibition HistoryVenice Biennale, City of Towers, 2002. New York, Max Protech Gallery, Tea and Coffee Towers, May 8 - June 28, 2003.