Old-fashioned bavarian beer mugs hand-formed from clay and traditionally relief-printed with the famous power-up mushroom from the classic Super Mario video games.

We wanted to give these hand-made mugs out as christmas presents to the Warriors’ clients, but we also tried to avoid the beaten path in the artwork. So I came up with something completely different from the usual ornamental leaves. But everything apart from the Mario pop-culture citation is totally traditional: The mugs were produced just as they were hundreds of years ago. The process, the form and colors are classic bavarian culture. The artwork was stamped into the still soft clay and then filled in with a blue color wash. Bavarian tradition contrasted with retro Nintendo graphics turned out to be a rather striking combination.

We gave them away to our clients last christmas, together with a matching stamped slip of cardboard with season’s greetings. They were also invited to a special evening of drinking beer at a old-fashioned brewery in January.