Message Cup
Personal Message Device
1995 (designed)
1995 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This simple cup, handmade from plywood and polystyrene, is a vessel for words. When the cup is the correct way up, a message can be recorded by speaking into it. Inverting the cup stores the message (which is recorded on a simple electronic device, concealed in the base), which can be replayed if the cup is turned back the right way. In this way, messages can be left for others. The designer, Michael Anastassiades, took a Greek Cypriot saying as his inspiration: 'if you want to know the gossip, you must listen to your teacup'. This intimate, handmade object contrasts strongly with contemporary, technological answering machines or voicemail - it is disconnected and personal. The meaning of the cup's contents are dependent on who has used it and for what.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Message Cup (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Birch plywood, vacuum-formed polystyrene, electrical components |
| Brief description | Message Cup, designed by Michael Anastassiades, 1995; made of bent birch plywood formed into a cone, inset with a vacuum-formed styrene shell, concealing, at the narrow end of the cone, an electrical recording device. Numbered on the circular base 5/15. |
| Physical description | Birch plywood bent to form a conical cup form, inset with a vacuum-formed styrene inner shell, concealing at the base of the cone an electrical recording device retrieved from a novelty Christmas card. The circular base of the cone is also made of plywood and is removed by twisting. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Limited edition |
| Copy number | 5/15 [second edition] |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Given by Michael Anastassiades |
| Production | Attribution note: Anastassiades produced two editions of the Message Cup. The first edition of ten were all featured in the Design Museum exhibition Paul Smith True Brit in 1995. The second edition, of which this is number five, totalled fifteen cups. |
| Summary | This simple cup, handmade from plywood and polystyrene, is a vessel for words. When the cup is the correct way up, a message can be recorded by speaking into it. Inverting the cup stores the message (which is recorded on a simple electronic device, concealed in the base), which can be replayed if the cup is turned back the right way. In this way, messages can be left for others. The designer, Michael Anastassiades, took a Greek Cypriot saying as his inspiration: 'if you want to know the gossip, you must listen to your teacup'. This intimate, handmade object contrasts strongly with contemporary, technological answering machines or voicemail - it is disconnected and personal. The meaning of the cup's contents are dependent on who has used it and for what. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.676-2001 |
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| Record created | January 21, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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