Arabia’s Peppi cups bring joy to Matti Pikkujämsä

Illustrator Matti Pikkujämsä fuels his creativity with coffee from delightful cups designed by Gunvor-Olin Grönqvist in the 1960s.

“HAVING UNEARTHED ARABIA’S Peppi cups from my cupboards, I drink espresso from them during the week. I had bought the cups, which feature animals, here and there, and then stored them for several years. I’m fascinated by how design endures and how you can rediscover an object and derive new meaning from it at different stages of life, for example.

Atmosphere is important to me, and I choose my coffee cups carefully. The Peppi cups inspire my anarchist, childish side and liberate me from being too adult, making space for creativity. One of the cups features a small worm, which I think is an absolutely exhilarating detail.

“The Peppi cups inspire my anarchist, childish side and liberate me from being too adult, making space for creativity.”

Respect for design is the ultimate form of ecological thinking. Knowing the origin and designer of an object adds so much to a simple coffee cup, for example. We can now be ecological with high-quality, so to speak, because almost everything can be bought second-hand.

I've long been an amateur collector of antiques. At one point, I even planned to have my own antique shop. Many of the things I collect are related to drawn images because, as an illustrator, I continuously surround myself with inspiration. The illustrations on Peppi cups are one of the reasons they are so important to me.”

What is Franckly?

• Franckly.com is a new online marketplace for pre-owned design
• Created and curated by Finnish Design Shop
• Buy and sell pre-owned design treasures: Franckly.com >

See also:

• Tableware designed by Gunvor Olin-Grönqvist >
• All Arabia tableware at Franckly >

Text and photos: Suvi Kesäläinen

Published on 8 Dec, 2020