All posts filed under: Things for Drinking

Hanagasumi Series of Cherry Bark Tableware

Published by

The Hanagasumi series of tableware, from the Monochro design studio, is made of cherry bark in a 200-year-old craft technique that originated in Kakunodate, Japan. The series includes the square-shaped Hanagusumi tray, a matching moisture-proof box, wooden teacups, and canisters that are suitable for preserving tea leaves and coffee beans. I like the version with the colorful bands on the canisters and cups — a grouping of these on a shelf would look so serene.

Unusual Tea Bags from Atta Creative

Published by

During last month’s London Design Festival, the folks from Atta Creative displayed these lovely tea bags as part of a collaborative of Korean designers. The T-Point tells you when your water is at the proper temperature for brewing through color changes of the leaf that is produced by thermocolor printing. Just pop a leaf out of the container and hold it above the cup to see if it’s ready. Teapop Travel bags have paper cut-outs of famous icons to create souvenir tea bags. Finally, Tea for Two is an engagement ring shaped handle that would be a perfect favor for bridal showers, engagement parties, or just for the bride and groom to use on their special day.

H20 Pal Smart Water Bottle

Published by

According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 43% of American adults drink less than four cups of water a day. A shocking 7% drink none. So is the H20 Pal water bottle from EQUA the solution to our dehydration problem? Made of a laboratory grade borosilicate glass bottle and a stainless steel cap, H20 Pal uses an accelerometer and weight sensor in the detachable base, along with an App, to help you keep track of how much water you are consuming. While the bottle itself is not complicated to use, you do have to log into the password-protected app in order to track your water consumption. The App also lets you know when you are properly hydrated, when you last filled your bottle, when you last took a sip, and allows you to compare how much your friends are drinking. So is this the solution for a thirsty nation or an overly convoluted drinking container? Check out the designer’s Kickstarter page and let me know what you think.

Brewbot

Published by

While I was covering last month’s London Design Festival I met Caroline Santos, one half of the British design studio Mette. At the 100% Design show Caroline was discussing her firm’s design of The Farm Kitchen, an installation that explored micro-agriculture in architecture and interiors. Mette has now been commissioned to design the first working prototype of Brewbot, a smart brewing appliance by development team Cargo, that you can control and monitor with your smartphone. This new approach to home-brewing is intended to take it out of the garage and put it into the home or workplace (thought it must be one incredibly cool office). We don’t brew beer in my house, but if it was an easier process my British husband might give it a try. By automating water amounts, temperature, and brewing time via a mobile app, Brewbot hopes to make home brewing easier than before. Belfast-based Cargo, a group of mobile app developers who are also craft beer enthusiasts, created the technology behind the Brewbot system and brought in Mette to create a …

Studio Visit: Black + Blum

Published by

It was a bit ironic that my first visit to the London studio of Black + Blum was during the summer edition of the New York International Gift Fair. It was during that show several years ago where I first encountered the company’s quirky, functional gadgets. During a trip to London in August, I sat down with Martin Blum at the Black + Blum studio/shop located in the OXO Tower on the south bank of the Thames. Blum was holding down the fort at home while his business partner Dan Black introduced new products at the Javits Center in New York. Blum and Black first met when they were design students at Newcastle University. After working well together on a few group projects, “we realized that we had something going,” says Blum. “It’s quite rare to find someone you can work well with.”  A few years after school the two got together and started a firm in 1998. After operating as a design consultancy for two years, they had a literal “lightbulb” moment after designing …

Coffee Beer Bottle Design

Published by

Coffee Beer is a collaboration between Anchor Coffee in Kesennuma, a small city in Northern Japan, and the Japanese sake and beer brewery Sekinoichi in Ichinoseki. The beer, which is brewed with coffee beans, is a charity project to raise money for the 2011 earthquake and tsunami (both Sekinoichi and Ichinoseki were devastated during the tragedy). Nendo reused existing beer bottles in order to keep costs low, and covered them with small labels in the shape of coffee beans. As the labels are applied by hand, each bottle is unique, a trait that Japanese consumers will most likely find even more desirable. If you’d like to order some craft beer while supporting a good cause, here is the link. Photos by Hiroshi Iwaski