A 12 piece tea + coffee set made of glass and stainless steel.
Western Washington University | Senior Thesis | 20 Weeks
The twelve pieces of the serving set were: a tea pot, a coffee pot, containers for cream and sugar, a tray, and a pair of cups with saucer and a stir stick.
The ten industrial design seniors at Western Washington University were given the task of creating 12 piece tea and coffee serving sets. After that it was up to us to chase what proved to be an elusive solution.
Thousands of sketches made it onto paper, and thousands were discounted. Nothing reflected the values I wished to convey, and nothing seemed worthy of being called thesis. There were glimpses of promise, but nothing compelling.
With no direction in mind I took a much needed night off. The clear night sky offered the inspiration and purpose that I needed. Space has always represented risk and a vision of the future to mankind, which is exactly what I wanted to embody in this tea and coffee endeavor. I began using spheres, disks, and axes to mimic the celestial bodies above while also striving to borrow their sense of mass and weightlessness.
With new direction, 1:1 scale models were created to validate my inspired purpose. The focus was on the relationship between the elevated interior volume and the orbiting exterior handles. At this time, I started working with a glass manufacturer to ensure that the product could be manufactured.
The stainless steel parts in my design were far beyond my skill to fabricate in the time period. A machinist was hired to CNC and form the parts. However, the machinist had trouble completing the job, so I milled some of the features and prepped them for finishing. Thankfully I was able to hire a different manufacturer to form and finish the parts, and that process was far smoother.
The process of manufacturing glass was a testament to preparation and good manufacturers. Since I started working with them in November, I was able to use their expertise to keep cost low and emerge with a superior product. They fit the glass to the stainless steel that had already been fabricated, and turned the glass elements of my design around in just three days.
The final teaset collides the worlds of tea, coffee, and science. It forces people to be precise with their actions and to remove distractions from their lives in the moments they engage with it. The collection challenges conventional notions of a tea set.