First Collector's Edition · Calassi × AYA Estate

AYA VMR

Meet the wine before you taste it.

The vesselHandcrafted porcelain · available€340,00
Cooling systemSold separately · pre-order
The full systemVessel + cooler · best value · pre-order
Ships worldwide by DHL, in a protective hard case.

Flavour is more than taste. It is the work of all our senses, carrying us through memory, imagination and time.

Maria Baleva, M.Arch.
From wine to form

How the shape tells the story of the wineEvery decision of form, glaze and texture answers a specific note in the wine — grounded in crossmodal correspondence research.

The translation · at a glance
    Specification

    The vessel, in detail

    Dimensions
    Capacity
    Colours
    Glaze
    Material
    Warm white porcelain, food-safe coloured glazes, fired at 1200 °C. Dense, durable, non-porous.
    Edition
    Handcrafted porcelain · Made in Bulgaria · First Collector's Edition with AYA Estate · signed Maria Baleva, M.Arch.
    The wine it is created for

    The ritual

    The wine, met with the senses awake

    A Calassi vessel works on the moment before the wine — the anticipation. Form, colour and texture wake the senses before the first pour, and the act of serving becomes part of how the wine is met. Poured into the glass, the wine arrives to senses already prepared. The cooling system holds an ideal temperature through the whole ritual, from opening to the last glass.
    The system · three ways

    The vessel, the cooler, or the whole systemThe vessel stands on its own. The cooling system is a dedicated companion, available separately.

    Designed to hold the wine at an ideal serving temperature throughout the ritual. The double-walled porcelain body holds cooling agents that regulate heat exchange and keep the temperature for up to two hours.

    The base opens easily so the agents recharge in an ordinary refrigerator, ready for the next bottle. Developed as a dedicated companion to the vessel, it brings temperature control into the serving system while leaving the vessel itself unchanged.

    The vesselAvailable€340,00
    Cooling systemPre-order
    The full systemBest value · pre-order
    Ships worldwide by DHL, in a protective hard case.
    When does taste begin?

    Taste begins before the first sip

    Taste begins before the glass, before the first sip — in what the eye sees and the hand feels. Calassi begins there, in the moment of anticipation.

    Calassi is the moment before that first sip — porcelain vessels whose form, colour and texture engage the senses and awaken our anticipation of taste. Each vessel is built on research into crossmodal perception.

    The name Calassi unites three ideas — kalos (beauty), kal (“earth” in Bulgarian) and calyx (the ancient wine vessel): beauty born from the earth.

    Calassi began as part of Materia Mensa, a project exploring the relationship between ceramics, the chef and taste, and continues into wine through the partnership with AYA Estate. The historical bond between wine and its serving vessels inspired the project's question: can a vessel created for a particular wine shape the way we perceive its taste?

    The answer draws on the research of Prof. Charles Spence on crossmodal perception, which shows that anticipation of taste is built before the first sip — through sight, touch, weight and texture. Ceramics becomes a natural language for that translation.

    Authorship

    Concept, research and design

    Can taste be translated into visual language?

    Maria Baleva, M.Arch.Founder & Creator of Calassi

    Every Calassi vessel is handcrafted in porcelain at the Pottery & Poetry atelier in Sofia, from concept and crossmodal research through to the finished piece.

    Design & concept — Arch. Maria Baleva · Production — Pottery & Poetry atelier · Industry partner — AYA Estate · Made in Sofia, Bulgaria · Shipping — DHL worldwide, in a protective hard case.

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