Dezeen Magazine

Superduperstudio designs "spillproof" wine glasses

To avoid spillages at the dinner table, San Francisco duo Superduperstudio has shaped these wine glasses so they rest at an angle when knocked over (+ movie).

Saturn Wine Glasses by Superduperstudio don't have a traditional stem and base, but instead are indented around the bottom of the bowl.

Saturn Wine Glasses by Superduperstudio

The glasses rest upright on a flat surface beneath the bowl and stack within one another for compact storage.

When knocked from upright, the vessels tip to rest on the wide curved edge above the base instead of falling horizontal and spilling the contents.

Saturn Wine Glasses by Superduperstudio

"Superduperstudio has adopted a traditional Italian glassblowing technique to design these spacey, spillproof glasses," said the studio's founders: glassblower Christopher Yamane and designer Matthew Johnson.

Two sizes for red and white wine hold about the same amount of liquid as average glasses – 150-175 millimetres for red and 120-150 millilitres for white – while remaining "spillproof".

Wine glasses are usually designed with stems to prevent the transfer of heat from the hand to the liquid.

Saturn Wine Glasses by Superduperstudio

"One small downside for not having a traditional stem seems to be how the temperature of your hand affects the temperature of the wine, but isn't as big of a problem in the red as the white," Yamane told Dezeen.

The vessels are hand-shaped then blown in a mould in Oakland, California. Each piece is then annealed overnight – a process that involves slowly cooling the glass to strengthen it – before being returned to the kiln for just long enough to soften and finish the edges in a process known as fire-polishing.

Saturn Wine Glasses by Superduperstudio

While prototyping the designs, Superduperstudio developed a technique of creating wooden moulds so they could quickly and cheaply make multiple versions each day.

The different glass iterations they created were tested and adapted to find perfect the shape.

Saturn Wine Glasses by Superduperstudio

Earlier this month, Claesson Koivisto Rune unveiled a rework of the Champagne flute designed to optimise the experience of aromas from the sparkling drink.

We've also featured a collection of wine glasses influenced by the Seven Deadly Sins.