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 what the manufacturing process entails.
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 had been missing on the American market: The company’s popular Movie Edition products, created in limited production runs with colorful eyes. That changed in 2021 and we have been adding the hand-made specials to the lineup ever since.
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!” said 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.
HIT PRODUCTS IN THE USA 
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.
Whenever we can, we bring Movie Editions to the USA in the largest quantities possible. And the response has been amazing: Most special editions sell out within weeks and we refresh them whenever we get a chance.
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.
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