Yoko Ono designs tragedy coffee cups

Yoko Ono is expressing herself through espresso cups.

This image released by Illy North America shows a collection of espresso cups and saucers called, Yoko Ono: Mended Cups – illy Art Collection, featuring the dates and places of six tragic events written in Ono’s handwriting.

The artist and widow of Beatle John Lennon has designed a collection of cups and saucers featuring the dates and places of six tragic events written in her handwriting, such as the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 and the day Lennon was shot dead in 1980. A seventh cup appears untouched to represent hope.

The collection, Yoko Ono: Mended Cups – illy Art Collection, is inspired by Kintsugi, the Japanese technique of repairing cracked pottery with brush strokes of gold.

The line is being released alongside Ono’s upcoming show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Other artists who have previously designed cups and saucers for illy include Jeff Koons, Pedro Almodovar, Robert Rauschenberg, Julian Schnabel and David Byrne.

(Press Association)