“The periodic table was incredibly beautiful, the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I could never adequately analyze what I meant here by beauty―simplicity? coherence? rhythm? inevitability? Or perhaps it was the symmetry, the comprehensiveness of every element firmly locked into its place, with no gaps, no exceptions, everything implying everything else.”―Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood

Sit down with a mug of tea or coffee and contemplate one orderly realm of beauty and order in our all-too-chaotic world. Beyond nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur, there are fermium, thulium, ytterbium, nobelium, mendelevium, and dozens more. Make friends with all 118, and think elemental thoughts.

As Dr. Sacks recalled, “…my favorite dream is of going to the opera (I am Hafnium), sharing a box at the Met with the other heavy transition metals—my old and valued friends—tantalum, rhenium, osmium, iridium, platinum, gold, and tungsten.” 

This bone china mug is screen-printed, hand-decorated, and kiln-fired in Scotland.

This mug is one of the new designs in our much-admired line of mugs made in Scotland, in a factory on Loch Lomond, by a family business run by a grandmother, her daughter, and her granddaughter. The company tells us, “Each mug is printed and decorated in the UK by our cheery, hardworking, skilled, and experienced staff.”

The company has produced bespoke bone china mugs for Orla Kiely, Paul Smith, Lulu Guinness, Vivienne Westwood, The Tate, The National Galleries, The National Trust, and many schools, churches, galleries, and other organizations.

Hand wash only. Suitable for use in a microwave.

Size: H 90mm (3.54") x D 85mm (3.34"). Capacity: 350ml (1.5 cups/12 oz.)