Scroll down to see more content

Last year, design firm Norlan Glass—spearheaded by Icelandic designer Sruli Recht, and acclaimed global retail designers Brian Fichtner and Shane Bahng—entered the scene with a successfully backed Kickstarter campaign for their collapsible laptop stand, Pillar. This morning, the team returns to the crowdfunding platform with a view in mind to impact a different industry: the world of alcohol consumption. Their Norlan whisky glass incorporates design inspirations from the two most common ways of consuming the brown spirit neat (or with water): a Glencairn snifter and a tumbler—and it adopts the most admirable characteristics of both. A snifter maximizes spirit surface area and channels aromatics north through a thinning port. A tumbler feels more substantial in the hand and allows for less of an angled sip. Norlan’s design offers both—with a little bit of flair.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the particularities of sipping spirits and there are centuries of glass design developments that attest to this. Understandably, Recht sought out guidance from master distillers in Scotland during development. In addition to the scent delivery, Recht blended digital production technologies with an advanced double-walled glassblowing handcraft. Not only does the double wall frame the liquid and enhance visibility of coloration, it also shields the liquid from hand temperature. Rounding out the features, four interior “fins” (which give the cup a clover-like appearance when viewed from above) actually aerate whisky when swishing. There are a lot of whisky geek nuances to this glass, but at the end of the day, it also looks distinct and charming.

You can can snag two Norlan whisky glasses on Kickstarter for an early-bird contribution of $35. They’ll ultimately retail at $48 a pair when they hit the market.

Lead image courtesy of Norlan, all other images by Cool Hunting