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Discarded Coffee Cups Adorned With Clever Typographic Illustrations

Who says that a coffee cup can't be a canvas, too? For London-based artist Rob Draper, a blank disposable cup and a marker is all you need to create eye-catching typographic illustrations. His series Coffee Time is an ongoing project that transforms these discarded objects into beautifully adorned works of art that include clever sayings on each one, like “E is for espresso” and “R is for refill.”

Draper's style is bold and showcases a variety of hand-drawn treatments. He'll sometimes include small designs within the letters themselves, like decorative lines, floral-like shapes, and even tiny buildings. Occasionally, he will playfully rip the outer layer of paper away from the cup, and it appears like the type is bursting through it. The well-crafted and meticulously-detailed illustrations on these everyday objects offer a welcome change to what we're used to seeing.

Rob Draper website and Tumblr
via [Neatorama and DesignTAXI]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled "Embroidered Life" that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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