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The Latest illy Art Collection Project: Artist Liu Wei

11.01.13 | By
The Latest illy Art Collection Project: Artist Liu Wei

Third generation family-owned coffee giants illy have been partnering with artists from around the world since 1992 on their illy Art Collection Project, which has artists design illy coffee cups, and since 2006, the illy coffee can. With more than 70 collections in the can (sorry, I had to), illy continues to improve the daily coffee ritual by turning a simple object into a designer art piece. The latest collaboration has illy working with multifaceted Chinese artist Liu Wei who keeps busy through performance, sculpture, photography, painting, video, and installation.

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Wei’s design easily transforms the utilitarian can into a piece of art with his colorful works that kind of resemble metropolitan landscapes. I love that they not only do sets of espresso and cappuccino cups, they have the matching can with either whole bean coffee or a medium roast espresso. When you’re done with the coffee, labels easily peel off and you have the beautiful can to use as you wish.

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Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.