On the social, cultural and global history of tea, Alison says:
“The basis is to think about the history of tea, and also the cultural occasions when people drink it around the world.
People drink tea at all time, to calm them down, to revive them – I try to think about the environment they will be in and bring in some cultural aspect from different parts of the world.”
We can see this in the beautifully crafted Emperor Birds Tea Set – inspired by the land of tea itself – China, and the English obsession with Chinoiserie style ceramics in the 18th century, it is also imbued with references to the fairytale of the Emperor and the Nightingale. Killing two birds with one stone (no pun intended). This beautiful teaset looks like cast iron, but is in fact ceramic – so much lighter and easier to handle, with the perfect pour.