Franca Espresso Cup, Summer lavender

It has a poetic cup and a minimal saucer making an interesting play between the romantic and the stringent. A pleasure to hold and to drink from. Made to be the kind of favourite cup that you will by want to keep forever. The Franca Cup loves Earl Grey from Fortnum and Mason but it doesn’t mind other kinds of tea. As for the espresso cup anything goes as long as it is strong. Milk is optional.

DETAILS:
The Franca Cups are dishwasher safe.

SIZE:
The Franca Espresso Cup is 7,8cm wide and 4,6cm high and the saucer is 11,4cm wide.

THE CERAMIST:
Franca Christophersen is a beauty of a young woman born and raised in New Zealand. She moved to Copenhagen in 2018 and became a ceramist and one to watch.

     MM: Why did you become a ceramist?
     FC: I had been working in fashion but started taking ceramic classes in the evening as I was stuck in front of the computer all day and missed working with my hands. That is where it started. In order to learn more about the many different approaches and techniques I ended up with an apprenticeship in Denmark for Eric Landon.

     MM: Tea or coffee?
     FC: I drink coffee in the morning, but keep it at two a day and I prefer my coffee weak and milky as I am pregnant. Tea is for my evenings and like tea from IO Tea or Sing tea house. I prefer something herbal and special.

     MM: What was your process for the making of the cups?
     FC: I started off by looking at classical visual references. The mindset was about creating something special and timeless. La Bagatelle has such a focus on craftsmanship and an appreciation of it and I wanted to honour that. So I decided to use a high grade coarse stoneware to make the cups with a porcelain coating which is unusual. However, I used it as it would give a refined look yet reveal the texture.
     I am into making things complicated at first and then trying to simplify them. These pieces for instance has been fired three times to give the right kind of effect of stoneware and porcelain. I tested different glazes again and again before it was right. The tea and the espresso cup have their own language but they go well together without being too much the same. Each cup is wheel thrown and it takes an absolute minimum of a week and a half to finish one cup.