Words from Antonio Riello: Reptillia

Antonio Riello has stopped being a pharmacist. However, he is still fascinated by poisons. And those of the reptiles are the most potent, the most disturbing. So, by using the rousing verse of the famous cup of the sinuous and sensual Meret Oppenheim (the “de facto” collection is a tribute to Meret) he seeks to use the skins of terrifying serpents to cover cups intended to caress the lips of magnificent specimens of the human race, including women.

Not content with such excess, he gives the cups names that are only part invention, such as Python mortiphera, Crotalus horrendus, etc. Now he has finally satisfied his intimate need for nastiness and, yes, Riello is an artist on the dark side of the human soul by choice (but also by vocation). Finally satisfied, he sends us his work with a promise: "They must be absolutely disgusting". And so everyone bursts out laughing, because evil, according to Riello, is born of ignorance wed to stupidity, and that can only make you laugh and laugh. This is the downfall of common sense, the banal interpretation that is shattered with an "it can’t be that simple" and in the compulsive search for a more sublime logic: that ephemeral and perhaps non-existent moment when the negative, having reached its highest peak, becomes positive. That strange elusive essence of life that (this time, truly, thank God) we will never understand.

• Made from high quality porcelain
  
• Each set contains 6 cups and saucers
  
• Cups: Height 5cm(1.9") x Diameter 6cm(2.3"). Saucer: Diameter 11cm(4.3").
  
• Signed, Limited Editions, your set will have a edition number
  
• Made in Germany by Zeitler
  
• Presented in reusable tin, safely packed in preformed foam
• FREE 250g Bag of espresso coffee worth £4.95