Bowled over

Trina O'Hara tracks down the latest tableware to suit any time of day.

Would you like something to make your life more of a design experience? A little meal appeal to help you feel artsy, graceful, modish? With fashion giants Burberry and Zara getting into housewares in 2004, design pundits are predicting that consumers will spend less on fashion and a whole lot more on luxury tableware. In fact, gourmet restaurants are spending big chunks of their budget on table settings, chefs are chasing unusual pieces to complement their cuisine, and everyday folk are looking for the new "cool." So if your kitchen cupboard looks like a mishmash of wedding gifts, if your coffee cups are covered in ads, or if your current tableware fails to reflect your stylish living, check out the following Tokyo shops and designers whose inspired creations will help you turn the tables.

8am: Breakfast with Illy
Let's face it, drinking out of a white coffee cup is a pretty plain way to start the day. So if a kooky breakfast experience is what you are looking for, head on over to arty design superstore Alessi to pick up Shizuka Yokomizo's Dream cups. Tokyo-born Yokomizo won the Artissima Modern and Contemporary Art Fair's "under 35" Young Talents Award in Italy, and Illy (yes, the coffee company) was so impressed with the quirky images and text that they commissioned her to design a limited-edition coffee cup collection.

Yokomizo's cups feature sketches of six dreams, including Yellow Trousers, which shows the artist trying to put on yellow pants in a library; Pelican, which portrays a bird asking for directions northwards; and Book Window, which depicts a train window through which the artist observes a hill rising in the middle of a field. "I have been making drawings after waking from my dreams since I was 19," Yokomizo says. "These images now appear like snapshots or little absurd and telling cartoons."
The Illy Dream collection is also available in espresso and cappuccino versions in Illy bars, fine food and giftware shops, other stores selling Alessi products, and the e-shop at www.it.illy.com.

10.30am: Morning tea with Rorstrand

The Japanese have always had a soft spot for deceptively simple forms with everyday functionality, which is probably why they are crazy about Alfredo HŠberli and his Origo striped porcelain collection for Rorstrand. In fact, HŠberli and partner Christophe Marchand are recognized as one of the best design teams in Switzerland.

To get a handle on this dream team's expressions of freedom and individuality, stop by the airy Karf Store in Meguro. The eggcup (¥2,000), snack bowl (¥3,000), dessert bowl (¥4,000) and mug (¥3,000) make a great addition to morning tea on the patio, and you can choose a dominant color of orange, pink or blue.

1pm: Lunch and afternoon tea with Dinosaur Designs

A smash hit at this year's Tokyo Designers Block showcase, Dinosaur Designs' tableware is available at TDB organizer Idée's funky Aoyama shop. Add zesty color and excitement to the lunch table with the Australian design team's contemporary takes on traditional Asian tablewares, which cleverly follow the worldwide interest in Asian fusion cuisine. For proof, just look at their tile plates, platters or sushi slabs. Dinosaur Designs are dishwasher safe, and the complete range is also available online at www.dinosaurdesigns.com.au.

8.30pm: Dinner with Frank Lloyd Wright

To get a hold of your own Modernist masterpiece, stop by Shinbashi's classy and contemporary Metrocs Tokyo and pick up some Frank Lloyd Wright-designed table settings. Wright designed Tokyo's Imperial Hotel in 1922, but he didn't stop at the architecture: he also did the furniture, murals, lights, glasses, plates, cups-even the matchboxes.

Wright was deeply influenced by Japanese aesthetic traditions, and he successfully blended them with Western design to create a beautifully drawn, geometric, art deco pattern. What is so fun about the coffee mug is the big red circle right where a woman's lips would touch. It's designed it to hide lipstick marks.

Most buyers have to scour ebay for the likes of these, but Metrocs offers them in Tokyo, Sapporo or through their online shop. Round dinner plates cost ¥3,800, rhombic cake plates ¥2,500, mugs ¥2,000, and cup and saucer sets ¥2,500.

10pm: Coffee and dessert with Ross McBride

Lastly, for something to whet the appetite and add grown-up glamour to your coffee and dessert, how about these prototypes from American-born, Tokyo-based product designer Ross McBride? These playful exercises in anamorphism, which were also on show at this year's Tokyo Designers Block, are sure to stir things up at your next dinner party. They'll be available for sale by spring; keep your eye on www.postnormal.com for more info.

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