TAC by Walter Gropius

The birth of an icon

What is pared-down and concise in its shape, is to be found on a beautifully laid table and is connected with Bauhaus? TAC – an icon in tableware. Designed by Walter Gropius and his Boston office, The Architects Collaborative (TAC ), it is firmly in the Bauhaus style. Gropius' interest in porcelain was aroused during the planning phase at the Rosenthal am Rothbühl factory. At first, Philip Rosenthal did not even dare to ask the famous architect for a design. He apparently said, “it would be like inviting the Pope to my daughter’s baptism.” It was a good thing that he did sum up the courage.

Moon by Jasper Morrison

Each piece of the service is reduced to a minimum of form. This purism, with its soft lines, has enormous power of persuasion – »Moon« requires no big statements.

The British designer Jasper Morrison (born 1959) is among the world’s foremost exponents of contemporary, puristic, functional design. He first came to the attention of the design world at the end of the 1980s with his ‘Exclamation Marks of Simplicity’. Perhaps no other contemporary designer embodies the term ‘minimalism’ more in their work than Jasper Morrison, whose creations are characterised by a deliberate, understated simplicity. His products are designed to be dependable and usable. In 1997, he created the Moon design for Rosenthal, which continues to be a worldwide best-seller.

New: The delicate, organic Cipango Blue design acts as an elegant complement to the simple design. The concept behind Cipango Blue is that different decorative markings create endless design variations when individual pieces of crockery are combined.

Landscape by Patricia Urquiola

A gossamer fine body, delicate and translucent, invigorated with graphic patterns that invite touch.

Patricia Urquiola is one of the best known and internationally renowned designers. She has designed a dining collection for Rosenthal that meets the demands of pioneering product design thanks to its styling and outstanding craftsmanship. The seven different reliefs are arranged asymmetrically on some of the porcelain pieces cover the entire surface of others. In some cases, the pattern breaks through the edge to create a new line. One particularly striking feature of Urquiola's designs is transparency, an indication of the quality of the porcelain. The fine relief reinforces the translucent effect of the wafer-thin porcelain.

Maria

5,000,000 cups and 15,000,000 plates during the past 25 years - “Maria” is one of the best ever selling dinnerware designs.

Some love stories are so beautiful that they are hard to believe. Like the one between Philipp Rosenthal and his wife Maria. It so happens that the privy councillor was so infatuated with her that he quickly named a porcelain set after her – without knowing that it would one day become a best-seller, selling millions of copies.

Read the whole story