Architect Jan Kaplicky of Future Systems has designed a table service for Italian brand Alessi.

The Bettina range includes porcelain tableware, glasses and cutlery.

Bettina will be launched on 1 July.

Here's some info from Alessi:

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“Bettina”: table service by Jan Kaplicky, Future Systems

The “Bettina” table service, certainly Alessi's most innovative design in this area, took a long time to complete. It was designed by Future Systems (the designers who, you may remember, were also asked to work on “Tea & Coffee Towers” (2003)). New glasses, new porcelain and new cutlery.

Many sketches, designs and prototypes were needed to achieve the elegant, simple result described by Jan Kaplicky as being “designed for the future. More artistic. More beautiful. Maybe future classics, very much in line with Future Systems’ other architectural and design projects.”

“Porcelain. New shapes in tableware. Shapes which are more closely related to the size, colour and type of the food and drink the items will hold. Also more closely related to the human form – the shapes are almost free, with gentle curves.

Glasses: a very innovative design consisting of two parts: the glass drinking vessel and a plastic “chassis”. You only drink from the glass section, while the holder stays on the table. There is no physical link between them. An extremely simple shape and an unusual idea.

Cutlery: each item in the service has a brand new shape - very original. More elegant, more refined, more beautiful. All made from stainless steel. They certainly don't follow fashion". Jan Kaplicky - Future Systems