Design studio Nendo has created a set of beer glasses for Japanese brewery Sapporo, featuring bell-shaped bases that make a cheerful clinking sound when they touch.
The set of two matching glasses is the latest in a series of quirky products created by Oki Sato's studio in response to a brief from Sapporo Black Label, calling for the "perfect glass" to suit different scenarios.
Following on from last year's design, which featured a wavy silhouette intended to maximise the beer's aroma and flavour, the "perfect cheers glass" adds a further sensory element to the drinking experience.
In addition to seeing, smelling and tasting the liquid, the bell-shaped design produces a pleasantly crisp and resonant tone when clinking glasses, much like a champagne flute.
"Rather than designing for the lively clinking of beer mugs in a large gathering, the focus was to design the quiet and delicate 'cheers' shared between two people," Nendo said.
Recognising that filled beer glasses usually produce a relatively dull sound when used for a toast, the designers added a bell-shaped foot at the bottom of the glass.
The size and thickness of this base were refined over numerous iterations to achieve the optimal tone and resonance when the glasses are brought together.
Crystal glass was used to achieve the perfect clarity of sound. The pieces are manufactured in the Czech Republic by artisans capable of working to tolerances as precise as 0.1 millimetres.
The result is a beer glass with a familiar form but a unique detail that embodies Nendo's signature playful design approach.
Sato founded Nendo in 2002 and has since developed hundreds of projects that aim to redefine everyday experiences by introducing a touch of whimsy or cleverness.
The studio recently revamped the interiors of France's high-speed TGV trains and was also responsible for the spherical cauldron used at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Nendo has previously worked on other projects related to beer drinking, including a beer can with two angled pull tabs that help to create an ideal foam when pouring.