Very Special Products: Movie Edition Porcelain with Colorful Details Coming to the US!
FIFTYEIGHT PRODUCTS creates rare beauties with colorful eyes and elaborate styling, fully dishwasher safe in limited quantities. Read the story of how this fun collector's line of products was designed and made reality.
The ‘bowls with faces’ by FIFTYEIGHT PRODUCS have been a hit with U.S. consumers since their official market launch in 2017. Customers in the States love the premium porcelain bowls in classic white and special colorways such as red, yellow, and purple.
But one special color variation has been missing on the American market: The company’s popular Movie Edition products, created in limited production runs with colorful eyes.
First of all, let’s start with the good news: Change is coming!
For the first time ever, a limited amount of Movie Edition porcelain bowls will become available to U.S. consumers in November 2021. Soon we’ll reveal the actual designs and details! But better subscribe to our newsletter to be among the first to know when these limited editions drop and sell while supplies last.
And to shorten the wait, here’s the background story behind Movie Edition bowls and porcelain dishware by FIFTYEIGHT PRODUCTS. Get inside the creation of a successful line of collectors’ pieces with quotes from designers and developers.
FROM CONCEPT TO LIMITED EDITION COLLECTOR’S PRODUCTS
In order to trace the origins of our Movie Edition products, let’s start at the beginning. As some readers may know, the line of FIFTYEIGHT PRODUCTS bowls with faces was inspired by animated cartoon videos featuring two talking bowls. And as it happens, these bowls had colorful eyes and facial features… while our ‘real’ porcelain products were available in classic white and select other colorways.
This made us think: What if we actually could manufacture products with colorful eyes just like in our animated films?
“When we first started making our bowls from actual porcelain, of course the question came up whether or not to work with color on the eyes. But at the time, the process seemed so elaborate that we tabled it for a while, until we gave it another shot!”
– Max Zimmermann, designer, CEO and co-founder at FIFTYEIGHT PRODUCTS.
A HIGHLY ELABORATE PROCESS
Then again, the whole colorful eyes thing is easier said than done, it turns out! Because adding color to a porcelain product is not that easy. At least not as easy as simply taking a marker pen and painting some color around the eyes.
Especially keeping in mind that our products are designed to be 100% dishwasher-proof and microwave-safe!
So simply using paint is anything but safe, but actually bound to fade away in a short amount of time after washing. It’s also not food safe... Our customers like to enjoy their favorite foods in our dishware, so chemical paints were a strict no-no.
But we liked the idea so much that we took it to our manufacturing partner, the porcelain experts at BHS in Southern Germany. And they said yes!
CREATING PREMIUM COLORWAYS
Together with our manufacturing partners BHS we have been able to develop a manufacturing process that meets our required level of detail as well as the quality requirements for porcelain products “Made in Germany”.
The process starts with a two-dimensional design of the eyes, which is then transformed with meticulous care into a four-color image customized for the embossed detail of each eye. Picture a sticker for each eye that is then burned into the porcelain in the factory oven to make it dishwasher safe and permanent.
To make it happen, we can’t rely on machines. The Movie Editions require hands-on precision. All eye stickers are applied manually, one at a time, onto the bowls and mugs before the colorful eyes are heat-jointed with the porcelain during several hours in the high-temperature oven.
For the final touch, the good folks at BHS quality inspect every single item in the collection to make sure that only flawless pieces will reach our customers. And just like the rest of our porcelain products, the colorful eye-edition bowls and mugs are 100% dishwasher-safe and microwave-proof.
PREMIERING ON THE U.S. MARKET SOON 
Now that you know about the highly time- and work-intensive manufacturing process behind our special edition, you will surely understand that we are only able to produce the “colorful eyes” TASSEN in small runs, sold only while supplies last. For this reason, we only sell them on our online store in Europe – not even at our retail stores.
That’s how limited they are!
That’s why we’re excited to bring two select Movie Editions to the USA in November. You will see: Our quirky porcelain products with emotional facial expressions are already conversation starters at any get-together with friends and family. But with the addition of COLORFUL EYES, they’re bound to be the talk of the town.
Again, it’s worth pointing out: Please also know that our special editions with a colorful finish are just as robust and ready for everyday use (and also dishwasher-safe) as our classic bowls in all white.
Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Instagram to be the first to know when these limited-edition products drop in the States. We also hope to be able to bring more and more special edition bowls to the United States in the near future and are grateful for all the love. Stay tuned!