From David Chipperfield's Tonale range for Alessi come these neat crystalline glass tumblers.

The Tonale range of glass and ceramics by architect David Chipperfield draws inspiration from the vernacular ceramics of Korea, Japan and China and was carried out as an excercise in refining functional household objects.

The name 'Tonale' is a reference to Giorgio Morandi's use of colour tones to imbue daily objects with a sense of individuality while still forming part of a collective whole. While striving for expressive purity, the range honours today's requirements of both durability and versatility.

In our opinion, Chipperfield has produced an excellent and affordable range here - Tonale is at once warm and even rustic, a nod to the wabi-sabi aesthetic of the Far East, while also being essentially Modernist. Two conflicting approaches to objects seem to have combined here, to produce an altogether satisfying and accesssible range of pieces that each work on their own and also as a collection.

David Chipperfield - Form Matters is now showing now at the Design Museum.