300 Printed Gahwa Cups in Five Designs for a Client in Qatar

A corporate client in Qatar ordered 300 gahwa cups from Sun Studio to give as a gift: the small, handleless Arabic coffee cups, or finjan, that gahwa is poured into.

The order has five designs. Each has its own colour and a name from Qatar’s heritage: Freej Al Asmakh, Doha Stadium, Founder’s House, Dar Al Kutub Al Qatariya and Bayt Al Zaman. All five were printed at our studio in Al Quoz, Dubai.

Five printed gahwa cups held up one by one: orange Freej Al Asmakh, red Doha Stadium, maroon Founder’s House, mint green Dar Al Kutub Al Qatariya and ochre Bayt Al Zaman, each with a band of fine white lines

Project snapshot

Client: A corporate client in Qatar
Printed at: Sun Studio, Al Quoz, Dubai
Item: Ceramic gahwa cups (Arabic coffee cups, finjan), handleless
Quantity: 300 cups
Designs: Five, one colour each: orange, red, maroon, mint green and ochre
Application: Corporate gift
Printing service: Corporate gift and gahwa cup printing

Five designs, one gift

A gahwa cup is small and flared. It narrows towards the base and opens out at the rim, so anything printed on it follows a wall whose diameter changes from top to bottom.

This order put five designs on that cup, 300 cups in all, and the five had to belong together as one gift. Each design has its own colour and its own name, and all five share one motif: a band of fine white lines around the lower half of the cup.

The maroon Founder’s House cup from the front and from the back: the name in white with a smaller two-line inscription beneath, and on the back the band of fine white lines rising to a peak

A shared band makes the set

The shared motif is what makes five designs a set. On every cup the name sits in the middle of the wall in a white serif face with the band of lines below it, so a row of five colours still reads as one family.

Founder’s House carries a smaller two-line inscription under its name, the finest type in the order, and it stays legible on the curve.

Each design is its own artwork file and its own count within the 300. Digital printing moves from one design to the next by changing the file, with no plates or screens to make, which is what makes five designs in one order of 300 practical.

The orange Freej Al Asmakh cup from the front and from the back: the name above a band of fine white lines, and on the back the same lines rising to a peak

Fine lines on a flared wall

Fine parallel lines are the hardest part of this artwork to hold. On a flat sheet they keep their spacing; on a flared cup they have to keep it as the wall narrows towards the base, or they thicken and run together.

The band runs all the way round the cup. On the back the lines rise to a peak, at the sides they cross, and turning the cup in the hand shows no break where the pattern restarts. Sun Studio prints gahwa cups while each cup turns on its own axis, which is how a pattern can wrap a cup without the seam a decal or transfer leaves where its two ends meet.

Five colours that read as one set

300 cups in five designs, ready to give. The white type stays crisp on all five grounds, from the pale mint green to the deep maroon, and the five designs are easy to tell apart at a glance.

The same cup has carried a couple’s portrait as wedding favours and a photographic seascape as an Emirati corporate gift set.

300Cups

5Designs

Common questions

What did Sun Studio print for the client in Qatar?

300 gahwa cups, printed as a corporate gift at our studio in Al Quoz, Dubai. The order has five designs, each in its own colour (orange, red, maroon, mint green or ochre), with a name from Qatar’s heritage and a band of fine white lines around the lower half of the cup.

Can one gahwa cup order have more than one design?

Yes. Each design is its own artwork file and its own count within the order, and digital printing moves from one design to the next by changing the file, with no plates or screens to make. This order of 300 cups had five designs.

Can a pattern run all the way round a gahwa cup?

Yes. Sun Studio prints gahwa cups while each cup turns on its own axis, so a band or pattern can wrap the whole cup with no seam where it restarts. On these cups the white lines rise to a peak on the back and cross at the sides.

Can small text be printed on a gahwa cup?

Yes. On this order the smallest type is a two-line inscription under the name Founder’s House, and it stays legible on the curve of the cup.

Is there a minimum order for printed gahwa cups?

No. There is no minimum order quantity for printed gahwa cups: one sample cup, a small set or a full run can be ordered, and the price per cup falls as the quantity rises.