Several years ago, the Italian housewares company Alessi asked 22 international architects to work on a smaller scale than they were accustomed to: The company commissioned a coffee and tea service from each designer in a project titled “Tea & Coffee Towers.” The resulting artistically stunning sets, by architects such as Zaha Hadid and Gregg Lynn were unveiled in Milan in 2003 and sent on a traveling exhibit to galleries around the world. Alessi produced limited editions of 99 for each set; the editions, intended for museums and high-end collectors, were priced between $5,500 and $55,000 each.

In an attempt to bring the vision and ingenuity of the original sets to a wider audience, Alessi has returned to the same group of architects and requested that they each create a coffee cup and saucer for mass manufacture to go with their “Towers” services. The first four cups from this second project, called “Il Caffe Alessi,” are now available. “E-LI-LI,” by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, has a curved, undulating shape ($70 for two cups with saucers); “Presto,” by John Denton, Bill Corker, and Barrie Marshall, leans to one side and is accented by a short, black handle ($99 for a set of two); the architectural “cup.it,” by Wiel Arets, is a sleek rectangle, which looks a bit difficult to drink from ($85 for a set of two), and the whimsical “Kaeru,” by Toyo Ito, has little frogs climbing up its sides ($85 for a set of two). All four sets are made of bone china. They are available at Karikter, 19 Prince St., 212-274-1966, www.karikter.com, and through Alessi, 877-253-7749, www.alessi.com.