Making tea & coffee pots an art form.

• Position: Modern Design;Alessi Tea & Coffee Towers exhibition

Sipping tea and coffee has become an art form, thanks to a provocative collection of upscale sets by some of the superstars of the architectural world Alessi, the Italian manufacturer renowned for transforming everyday household objects into design icons, challenged 22 international designers, who ordinarily are deft at creating skyscrapers and other complex buildings, to apply their talents to the design of functional tea and coffee sets.

The architectural influences instantly are recognizable in several of the creations, such as the towering constructions by the Australian firm Denton, Corker, Marshall as well as the Dutch master Wiel Arets, Then there are total "landscapes" that have been fashioned for the table to include a tea or coffee pot, sugar bowl, and creamer atop a tray. Such designs were contributed by British architect Will Alsop, U.N. Studio of the Netherlands, and Future Systems, also from the United Kingdom. The designs by Zaha Hadid, who is London-based and one of the darlings of the industry, and by Thom Mayne of Morphosis in Los Angeles, Calif., are startling sculptural formations that have been likened to supersonic spaceships.

More organic interpretations have been offered by SANAA, the Japanese team comprised of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, who envisioned a sterling silver basket of fruits, while Australian Tom Kovac imagined egg-shaped elements that sit neatly within their crate-like tray. American Greg Lynn's creation has been compared to a clove of garlic...