Story
The Pythagoras Goblet emerged from a late night on the internet. A Youtube clip caught my eye:
The principle, as the narrator explains, is fiendishly clever: if you pour too much liquid into a specially designed cup, it all drains out, thanks to the laws of fluid dynamics. A cross-sectional view of a Pythagoras Goblet demystifies the process:
There was one glaring problem, however, as far as I was concerned -- all the Pythagoras Goblets (or greedy cups or devious cups, depending on whom you ask) on the market suffered from abysmal design quality. A drinker would never be fooled by cups of such clumsy design.
Moreover, anything worthy of being termed a goblet, I reasoned, really ought to live up to the name. Craftsmen have been designing elaborate drinking vessels for millennia. The accretion of their efforts has resulted in some truly astonishing forms:
I assert that any designer willing to put his or her name to a goblet is professionally obligated to if not exceed, then to at least equal these precedents. Thankfully, I was aided in this project by the prodigiously gifted designer Gazal Mathur. Her typology study brought to light the above examples, among much else.
Gazal was instrumental in fleshing out the base form of our goblet; those first daring profile curves that create the bones onto which everything else is applied. So much hinged on this base form. To wit, a sampling of its obligations:
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Lay out tubing such that the greedy cup siphon effect actually works
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Have the ergonomics of a comfortable drinking vessel
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Manifest a geometric grammar that is harmonious and historically informed
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Create base surfaces onto which ornament can be applied
The result performed admirably in all these respects, and, as established in print testing, on our first try, no less.
The next challenge was to devise ornament to bring the piece alive. Given that the cup was envisioned by Pythagoras (according to legend if not fact) to punish the greedy, I decided to begin with a bas relief depicting the present-day greed of disgraced crypto-bro Sam Bankman-Fried.
Much of the remaining ornament is informed by the watery nature of the goblet's trick. For example, netting on the neck alludes to both fishing as well as entrapment. A classic wave motif runs along the upper lip. And, perhaps most iconically, we installed not one but three dolphins, whose bodies swirl downward in phantasmagoric frenzy. Their overhanging beaks help hide the tube exits. These dolphins owe much to their representations in decorative arts of the baroque era (which, shall we say, tended toward the hyperbolic and grotesque).
Traditional representation of a snarling dolphin from a British candlestand
3D printing of the piece proved extraordinarily difficult. This difficulty, however, paled in comparison to that of finishing the exterior; it would not be fitting (nor hygienic) for 3D-print layer lines to mar a luxury object. I therefore coated the print in a food- and UV-safe resin. This provided a base surface suitable for metal enameling and electroplating, experiments around both of which are ongoing as of 2024.
At any rate, the final product is something of which we are both very proud. The piece is historically informed and well-proportioned. More importantly, it actually works!
This greedy cup, true to its name, enforces alcohol in moderation (cheers!). It's our hope, however, that it imposes no such limit on the enjoyment of its beauty.