{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O64027"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O64027/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HV5042/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HV5042/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2015HV5042","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HV5045","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HV5046","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O64027","accessionNumber":"W.676-2001","objectType":"Personal message device","titles":[{"title":"Message Cup","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"This simple cup, handmade from plywood and polystyrene, is a vessel for words. When the cup is the correct way up, a message can be recorded by speaking into it. Inverting the cup stores the message (which is recorded on a simple electronic device, concealed in the base), which can be replayed if the cup is turned back the right way. In this way, messages can be left for others. The designer, Michael Anastassiades, took a Greek Cypriot saying as his inspiration: 'if you want to know the gossip, you must listen to your teacup'. This intimate, handmade object contrasts strongly with contemporary, technological answering machines or voicemail - it is disconnected and personal. The meaning of the cup's contents are dependent on who has used it and for what.","physicalDescription":"Birch plywood bent to form a conical cup form, inset with a vacuum-formed styrene inner shell, concealing at the base of the cone an electrical recording device retrieved from a novelty Christmas card.  The circular base of the cone is also made of plywood and is removed by twisting.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Anastassiades, Michael","id":"A5920"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"birch plywood","id":"x33282"},{"text":"polystyrene","id":"AAT14492"}],"techniques":[{"text":"vacuum forming","id":"AAT54074"},{"text":"compression moulding","id":"AAT54068"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Birch plywood, vacuum-formed polystyrene, electrical components","categories":[{"text":"Product design","id":"THES49025"},{"text":"Audio equipment","id":"THES49027"},{"text":"Containers","id":"THES48972"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2015HV5042","2015HV5045","2015HV5046"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"009","id":"THES302897"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Message Cup","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1995","earliest":"1995-01-01","latest":"1995-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Michael Anastassiades","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"103","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"83","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Top","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"50","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Base","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Michael Anastassiades C\r\nOctober 1995","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"1995","earliest":"1995-01-01","latest":"1995-12-31"},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"English","medium":"","method":"Printed","position":"Inside removable base plate","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Makers's and designer's marks","note":"Makers's and designer's marks; English; Inside removable base plate; Printed; 1995"},{"content":"5/15","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"Anastassiades, Michael","id":"A5920"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"1995","earliest":"1995-01-01","latest":"1995-12-31"},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"Ink","method":"Hand written","position":"Inside removable base plate","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inside removable base plate; Hand written; Ink; Anastassiades, Michael; 1995"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Message Cup, designed by Michael Anastassiades, 1995; made of bent birch plywood formed into a cone, inset with a vacuum-formed styrene shell, concealing, at the narrow end of the cone, an electrical recording device.  Numbered on the circular base 5/15.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'I.D.E.N.T.I.T.A: Identity. Three New Designers', Marco Romanelli, Abitare, March 1996"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'Object Lessons', Stephen Todd, Dutch, No.17, 1998"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'Michael Anastassiades marries art, design and ideas to make things that are witty and fun', Michelle Ogundehin, Elle Decoration, July/August 1998"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Intersection, Katerina Gregos, The Hellenic Centre, London, June 1997"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Lost and Found: Critical Voices in New British Design, Birkhauser / The British Council, 1999"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Monument, Architecture Design, July-August 1997. Stephen Todd article."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Products of our Time, David Redhead, August/Birkhauser, 2000"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Michael Anastassiades profile, Caroline Roux, Blueprint, October 1998"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Still Objects Run Deep, William L. Hamilton, The New York Times, 28 December 2000; The International Herald Tribune, Paris, 9 January 2001; Kathimerini, Athens, 14 January 2001"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Space Cadets, James Perlove, Time Out, June 9-16 1999"}],"production":"Attribution note: Anastassiades produced two editions of the Message Cup.  The first edition of ten were all featured in the Design Museum exhibition Paul Smith True Brit in 1995.  The second edition, of which this is number five, totalled fifteen cups.","productionType":{"text":"Limited edition","id":"THES48862"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["W.676-2001"],"accessionNumberNum":"676","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":2001,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"5/15 [second edition]","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-01-01","recordCreationDate":"2002-01-21","availableToBook":true}}