At Haus of Lucy we get through approximately 20 000 cups of tea a day and have always associated drinking tea with community, the sharing of news and gossip, a sense of belonging. We wanted to create a sculpture of a traditional cuppa to evoke those feelings of comfort and nostalgia. This tea sculpture is made from a mixture of mortar, resin and ceramic paint which we used to colour the resin, always with a cup of tea freshly made for colour reference. We wanted to present the tea in Beryl Ware, which was produced and designed during the war, when shortages decried that design should be simple and use as few resources as possible. Beryl Ware is synonymous with jumble sales and school cheese & wine nights and church halls and represents community, so no other crockery would have been suitable.
Fool your friends when they come round for a cuppa and you pretend to trip up upon presenting this and laugh at the look of horror on their faces.