It's the year 1475 and the great city of Constantinople has been under Ottoman control for over twenty years. The dome of the Church of the Holy Wisdom - the Hagia Sofia - is now a place for muslim worship.But that is not your concern today - instead you stroll through the narrow streets in search of a newly opened establishment - the Kiva Han - possibly the world's first coffee shop. You smell the aroma of the strong Turkish coffee before you even set eyes upon the place. You step inside, find a table and soon the black and unfiltered liquid arrives, contained in a wooden mug - a coffee mug.
Of course wood is not an entirely suitable agent in which to keep coffee and those early wooden mugs must have been a sight to behold - their interiors likely stained as black as the liquid gold they contained. Eventually porcelain, invented in China around 600 A.D. (hence “china” or “fine china”), and other ceramics became the preferred material for mugs.
However what we take as the classic coffee mug of today is not as old as you may think. The 'traditional' coffee mug arrived in 1945 - a product of the Victor Insulator Company in the USA. WW2 had dictated the design of the company's mugs in terms of being able to take a hard knock or two, not slide about on a pitching ship and sported thick walls for insulation in colder climes. These mugs' heavy duty style became very popular after the war and were known as the 'Dinner Coffee Mug'
Of course today, as consumers, we're spoilt for choice. Coffee mugs now are manufactured in metal, glass, plastic, earthenware - you name it. They're everywhere, in every household, in every office (well, perhaps not in Utah) and your favorite coffee mug can be a source of comfort and welcome routine.
As a designer, I'm pleased to be able to offer a range of coffee mugs suitable for your own enjoyment or to give as a gift to that someone special.
Must be time for a coffee?
MADJACK TEES coffee mug collection on Zazzle
MADJACK TEES coffee mug collection on Redbubble
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