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If you were to create a retrospective of tea sets, it might look like an illustrated history of design. Joseph Hoffman’s bulbous black-and-white-striped set, for instance, became an instant symbol of the Wiener Werkstätte. Marianne Brandt’s iconic silver-and-ebony pieces are now synonymous with the Bauhaus. And Peter Shire’s candy-color composites of circles and squares—though they hardly suggest cups and pots—exemplify the riotous merging of utility and absurdity that the Memphis Group is known for.
The latest designer to try his hand at teapots and creamers is contemporary star Marc Newson, tapped by historic Danish silversmith Georg Jensen for its first partnership in over 25 years. The resulting sterling-silver service—made to order in a limited edition of just ten—takes more than three months of hand hammering to complete. With its sculptural silhouettes, creamy handles hewn from fossilized, responsibly sourced mammoth bone, and rattan weave around the tray and base of each vessel, the design references tropes from the Bauhaus and Wiener Werkstätte with a modern twist. Pricing in at a cool $125,000, the set—crafted by a third-generation silversmith whose grandfather worked alongside Jensen himself—is surely on its way into the pages of design textbooks, if only to the tables of a select few.
Available for special order from Georg Jensen, 687 Madison Avenue, New York; georgjensen.com
