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by Paolo Frello
Designing an egg-cup, and measuring oneself against one of Nature's most
curious shapes, the egg, has always fascinated designers.
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| Take a cube, with sides measuring around 5 cm, any material will do:
wood, aluminium, ceramic, crystal. Make a small hole, measuring around 1.5
cm both in depth and width, on one of the sides of the cube. You have just
made an egg-cup, of rigorous form, perhaps a bit monumental, but the relationship
between the shape of the egg, and the cube, is extraordinarily harmonious. Now, take a sphere measuring around 6 cm in diameter, the material can be analogous to the cube. Cut out two small sphere portions opposite each other. By making a hole in one of the flat surfaces, you have just made another egg-cup. An egg's "unique" shape dialogues and always relates in a harmonical way to support shapes. If you are "into" design or merely interested in the the way shapes relate, put yourself to the test with this theme and send me your suggestions: we will discuss them together. Nowadays only a limited range of egg-cup designs are available in shops because the use of the object has diminished. However, egg-cup design has always fascinated designers for the sheer pleasure of measuring their skills with one of Nature's most extraordinary forms. Proof of the fact is that in last year 's Ikea design competition called "Young Italian Design for Ikea" , winner of the competition, among hundreds of entries, was indeed an egg-cup made out of a curved piece of plastic sheet. |
  Egg-cup by A.Antonuccio,first prize "Young italian design", IKEA. |
 From Alessi's famous "Girotondo" Collection, designed by Guido
Venturini, "KKO2", an egg-cup in thermoplastic material and stainless
steel base. |
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