A contemporary take on practicality next to spiritual meaning combined in one teacup. Telling more about my big-teacups Wave, Joy and inner Wisdom as part of my growing collection 77Teacups
Slowly I tell the stories behind 77Teacups. What's the motive to make these? What's in the name? What inspired me to make it?
Tea-inspiration and history
Years ago I started to collect tea-sets from Bavaria; Unique ‘Kaffee und kuchen’ sets, sometimes called breakfast-sets. Every classic set contains a teacup with saucer and an extra plate for cake and has it’s own unique decor. At parties, especially birthday-parties I take them out to shine and invite everyone to choose one and drink tea from it. The first remark almost always is: great but scary, won’t they break? And then: ‘I love them but they are so small and the handle is not very practical to hold’.
The design-process
After designing and making my first teacup Resilience, still in the classic size. The second thing I did is making that same classic teacup in a much bigger version. With a nice big handle, easy to hold. Because I just started out and had no idea where I was heading, I made various bigger teacups by intuition. I made amongst others; Joy, Inner Wisdom and Wave.
Naturally the names came later, when 77Teacups really hit off, around the 49th Teacup the names grew from the different meanings of 77.
Names and their spiritual meaning Joy had at first no connection with 77, This project gives me so much Joy, I loved it and gave the name intuitive. Later I found that when the Japanese Kanji character for Joy is written in cursive script (a simplified running script for quick writing), it becomes a character that looks like 77 . How beautiful live can be.
Wave refers to the spiritual meaning of 77 ‘Embrace change’. Also Inner Wisdom is a spiritual meaning of 77. Both meanings resemble for me the essence of drinking tea: Like a wave receiving your thoughts in peace and quietness, the deep inner wisdom that arises in these silent moments or in deep connection with others.
Ending this story with one question: What is your favorite way of drinking Tea, is it part of a daily routine or do you make a real tea-ritual from it?
Sharing my story of #77Teacups. From the elegant classic teacup to the modern giant mug and everything in between. Reflecting contemporary tea habits. 77 has a special meaning in many cultures and religions. This number imagines {among other things} Resilience, Intuition, Awakening, Perfection, Life Essence. It symbolizes the magic that can arise during tea drinking. In almost all cultures, tea drinking is surrounded by small rituals and togetherness. Drinking tea together invites conversation, listening to each other, and connecting – something we desperately need in these times.