Handmade Ceramic Coffee Mug, Set of 3 from Marrakech

Nobody in Morocco drinks coffee alone, which is why these come in threes. The shape is three swells stacked on each other, and Mohammed throws them wet on the wheel in one motion pressing the wall out, in, out again, so the cup narrows at the waist where your fingers land. Each one is small: eight centimetres tall, five across, a double espresso rather than a mug of drip. Line the three up and the glaze tells you they came from the same hands and different moments in the kiln. One breaks to rust at the high points. One speckles white. The third holds its colour flat. Same recipe, same firing, three results.

What Makes It

• Three cups, thrown individually not a moulded set. The waist sits at a slightly different height on each and every handle meets the body at its own angle.
• Glaze that moves in the kiln poured thick, it runs and pools during firing. This is why the three in your set won't match each other exactly, and why they won't match the photograph exactly either.
• Throwing rings left inside look into the base and you'll see the spiral his fingers made. A cast cup has a smooth interior.
• Espresso size, on purpose 8 cm tall, 5 cm across, roughly 90 ml each. Sized for the coffee it was made for.
• You choose the set cool tones, warm tones, or let Mohammed pick three from what came out of the last firing.

The Craft

Ourika sits in the valley below the High Atlas, about forty minutes from Marrakech, and the clay comes out of the ground near where it's worked. Mohammed throws on a wheel, trims the foot, pulls each handle separately and joins it while the body is leather-hard. The glaze is the part that can't be controlled mixed, poured, and then the kiln decides. A potter learns to throw in a few years. Learning to read what a glaze will do at temperature, and to accept the portion of every load that comes out wrong, takes considerably longer.

Details

• Set contents: Three hand-thrown espresso cups
• Material: Hand-thrown ceramic, glazed
• Dimensions (each): 8 cm tall × 5 cm diameter / 3.1 × 2 in
• Capacity (each): . 90 ml / 3 oz
• Technique: Wheel-thrown, hand-pulled handle, poured glaze
• Origin: Ourika, Marrakech region, Morocco
• Artisan: Mohammed
• Food safe: lead-free, food-safe glaze? US buyers will not purchase Moroccan ceramics without this stated.
• Dishwasher : yes

Care

Hand wash in warm water, no abrasive pad. Dry fully before stacking glazed ceramic traps moisture at the foot. Avoid sudden temperature change; don't pour boiling water into a cup straight from a cold cupboard.

What's Included

• Three hand-thrown espresso cups in your chosen colourway
• Origin Passport card with QR code Mohammed's name, his workshop location in Ourika, and photographs of the cups being thrown
• Each cup wrapped separately, boxed, DHL /FEDEX/ARAMEX/UPS, tracked to your door