Coffee Cup

If, like most of us normal folk, you have a mishmash of mugs and teaspoons in your kitchen: I bet you have a favourite

I will drink my first cup of coffee out of a frying pan on the lawn if I have to so i am always grovelling-ly grateful for whichever mug hits my bedside table first thing in the morning.

But.

When it is the black and white Pic n Pay one, I feel a little thrill of joy with each sip

What IS that?

The mug itself is not expensive, fine, quality or in anyway exotic. It is a utilitarian, run of the mill, mass produced coffee cup.

I have also noticed how often other people gravitate to choosing my cup out of the cupboard and how indignantly territorial that makes me. I have one friend who makes tea (TEA!) in it everytime he comes to visit and , much as I adore him, Im seriously considering not inviting him anymore.

So what IS it?

Its the comfortable grip of its handle, the perfect curve of the bowl in my palm, the "just right' ratio of rim width to circumference, the graphic simplicity of its pattern, how much coffee it holds... in short: the cups' design. Someone thought about the human (ME!) using that mug and tried to make it perfectly suited to its purpose.

Design

All mankind's tools have been thought about, defined and refined for use by people.

Subconsciously we "judge' this design all the time: Good/Bad, For Me/Not For Me. If we find it pleasing to look at and easy to use it will become our tool of choice. We will gravitate toward it even though we have never consciously considered its design

Design.

When done well, is invisible.

It makes you feel good without exposing itself.

My Coffee Cup makes my coffee taste better, and my morning feel more optimistic, without my even knowing that it is the curve 'just so' and the handle 'just there' that makes it so.