Illy coffee cup espresso and cappuccino coffee cup saucer coffee cup and art

If you use the five senses to taste coffee, then the utensils that hold coffee should be visually pleasing. Twenty years ago, Yili began to think about how to make coffee cups withstand deliberation and combine sensory pleasure with coffee and art.

This ideal led to the project of Yili Art Collection Cup: small works of art with ceramic coffee cups as the medium. Turn the pure pleasure of drinking coffee into the ultimate experience with the full participation of the senses and the soul.

Each Italian art collection starts with the same elegant canvas: the iconic white Italian coffee cup designed by renowned architect and designer Matteo Thun in 1992. So far, more than 100 of the world's top artists have used coffee cups as a source of inspiration to create a large number of Italian art collection cups, each of which has its own style and charm.

Jeff Koons, James Rosenquist, Julian Schnabel, Robert Rauschenberg, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Marina Abramovic, as representatives of contemporary art masters, together with famous artists from all over the world, present their artistic talent and design essence to the Italian art collection series.

Italian Collection cups include espresso and cappuccino coffee cups and saucers, as well as special edition designs for limited cup sets. In 2006, Italy expanded the scope of the project, using its iconic 250-gram coffee cans as a canvas for artistic creation.

With coffee cups and coffee cans as the medium, the cooperation between Yili and these artists continues to develop over time, and extends to other art spaces, such as museums, exhibitions, books and theme activities, which serves as the finishing point for the special connection between coffee and art.