Yoko Ono's Cup and Saucer Collection for Illy Is Kind of Amazing

A new set of espresso cups and saucers to be released by Illy are so stunning and unique, they could only have been designed by one person: Yoko Ono. The collection, called “Yoko Ono: Mended Cups,” will be released alongside Ono’s upcoming show at the Museum of Modern Art.”

The AP reports that designs on the cups represent mended cracks, and were inspired by “Kintsugi, the Japanese technique of repairing cracked pottery with brushstrokes of gold.” Each has a complementary saucer on which—in Ono’s handwriting—a global tragedy is memorialized with a location and date. “This cup was broken in Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945,” reads one. “And mended in 2015.” Another marks the date of John Lennon’s death. A seventh, solid white cup has a saucer reads, “This cup will never be broken as it will be under your protection.”

Can you imagine drinking coffee out of one of those things? I can’t. I don’t think I’d want to, either. Every sip would feel disrespectful. But based on the rarity of previous collections (including one by Pedro Almodovar), I probably won’t have any trouble avoiding them, as the set will likely sell out quickly.