Our design partner for Bottleware was nendo, who beautifully translated the key characteristics of the contour bottle into attractive tableware.

We took nendo’s design to Japanese glass blowers in Aomori Prefecture of the Tohoku region that are renowned for having preserved the traditional Tsugaru Vidro glass crafting techniques for generations. The Bottleware designs presented these Tsugaru Vidro craftspeople with a formidable challenge, as they had never done designs of such difficulty. But their passion for our idea and innovation motivated them to persevere, until nendo’s original tableware images were successfully rendered in the recycled contour bottle glass.

We wanted to create simple shapes that would incorporate the original traits of the recycled glass, such as the tiny air bubbles and distortions, while reminding users of the contour bottle. Our solution was to create products that retain the shape of the bottle’s distinctive lower section, as though the bottle’s top had been sliced off. We kept the “knurling”, the dimpling on the bottle base, both for its non-slip quality, and to help convey an important message about how the glass circulated among people as it was made, used, and recycled, and about the connections it created between people.

Bottleware was launched at Tokyo Design Tide 2012 and picked up by over 150 media outlets worldwide. The story was featured by a wide range of media, from influential design and lifestyle magazines like dezeen, to fashion magazines like Vogue, GQ, and Hypebeast, to major national media, like the Yomiuri newspaper in Japan and Le Magazine du Monde in Paris. Bottleware was sold at highly influential retail outlets in Japan, like CIBONE, MOMA Museum Store, and Conran Shop, to name a few. Globally, it was showcased at London Design Museum and at Merci, Paris, during Maison et Objet.