Mountains appearing in a glass
Why is there a mountain inside the glass? And it looks so realistic, it almost looks real. This mysterious glass is from North Drinkware, a product of craftsmanship from Portland, Oregon, USA.
Many high-flying freeskiers will have seen the mountain floating inside the glass. It's Mt. Hood (3,429 m), the highest peak in Oregon, a classic location for ski movies. This is the first film from North Drinkware, a truly memorable project.
What is North Drinkware?
North Drinkware is a design project that began as an idea from three mountain-loving friends. The three are passionate about the outdoors and enjoy traveling to the mountains of America whenever they can find the time. With expertise in design, engineering, and marketing, and a wealth of business experience, the three had a desire to create a product that embodied their beloved mountains with their own hands
As a result, they came up with the idea of engraving their beloved local mountains onto glass. They created a meticulous product, using topographical data from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) to accurately depict the mountain's details, then hand-blown the glass to faithfully recreate the real thing.
When someone who climbed the mountain returned home, they could pick up the glass and be reminded of their trip.
Now, please take a look at the photo of Mt. Food above and the photo of the glass work below. Comparing them, you can see that they are both very delicately and similarly finished. It would be different if they were made of clay or plaster, but the material is glass. It
is truly the culmination of the efforts of producers who truly love the mountains and the high technical skills of artisans.
Process Is Everything
The shape of the mountain floating at the bottom of the glass is based on detailed data obtained from USGS topographical data. The design was confirmed using 3D printing from that data, and a mold for the prototype was created
Then they create the hand-blown glass, which requires many years of skilled experience and technique, as well as a completely custom-made process. It takes more than 15 steps over two days to make one glass, and artisans repeat this process hundreds of times a day, carefully handcrafting each one. No matter how hard a craftsman tries, they can only make seven or eight glasses a day, which makes them that much more valuable.
Please take a look at the video to see the artisans' artistic craftsmanship.
Background to the success story
The "North Drinkware" design project, started by three friends, kicked off in February 2015. They announced their first work, "The Oregon Pint," an engraved glass with Mt. Food, on Kickstarter, America's largest crowdfunding service. The project, which will seek backers for one month, initially set a goal of $15,000 (approximately 1.6 million yen) . This amount was set to cover only the costs of producing the molds and shipping required to deliver the product to backers.
However, the results of their crowdfunding campaign were astounding. They surpassed their $15,000 goal in just 5 hours and 15 minutes, achieved 200% funding within 28 hours, and exceeded 2,000% within five days. Ultimately, after a month of campaigning, they attracted 5,620 backers and raised $531,581 (approximately ¥55 million), This huge success was featured in numerous media outlets, both domestic and international, including The New York Times.
They subsequently released a series of mountains from every state in the United States, and North Drinkware's lineup now includes 11 titles. Take a look to see if any of the mountains sound familiar. Of course, they're including Grand Teton, the highest peak in the Teton Mountains, where the long-established ski movie studio TGR (Teton Gravity Research) uses its filming base.
Lineup list:
https://sputnikshop.jp/blogs/products/north-drinkware-collection
Introduced by sputnikWhat
made the Japanese debut possible?
"Sputnik" was the first to introduce "North Drinkware" to Japan. CEO Hodaka Endo is a lifelong travel enthusiast, an outdoor and mountain enthusiast, and of course, a skier. He founded "Sputnik" in 2017 and has since been importing and selling "inspirational items" he discovered during his life's work, traveling around the world.
Each brand he carries, from ski-related items like helmets and goggle covers to lifestyle goods, tells the story of Endo's travels and encounters. (It's a fascinating story, and I'd like to share it another time.)
While in the United States, a designer he worked with told him about the designer of "North Drinkware," telling him about something interesting. Hearing his story, he was fascinated by the craftsmanship—each item is handmade—and the story behind it. He contacted the designer, hoping to introduce it to Japan. That was in 2017.
The designer was also a snowboarder, so he went to meet him and spent time together in the mountains, hitting it off. Due to their busy schedules, it took some time for them to launch in Japan, but they finally made their debut in August 2020. Sales began at five outdoor and mountain specialty stores, as well as the Sputnik online store. However, because the products are completely handmade, there are limits to the number of products that can be produced and imported, and only a limited number is sold each season. This means that it is likely a premium item to get your hands on them in Japan.
Whatever you pour into the glass, the drink you drink from this glass is sure to be delicious. You can enjoy a relaxing moment admiring the sparkling mountain reproduced in the glass. Why not enjoy some quality time for yourself?
Will Japan's famous peaks also feature in the work?! The project is underway with high expectations
Finally, a sneak peek? A message for STEEP readers.
According to Endo from sputnik,
"If we're going to expand into Japan, we'd like to make products of famous Japanese mountains that are familiar to us. In fact, we're currently working on the production so that we can release our first product in Japan, Mt. Fuji, in December of this year. It's a lot of work, as we have to make each one from a mold, but we'd like to make one piece per year, and eventually Mt. Tateyama or Mt. Yotei in Niseko
." We can't wait.
The Oregon (Mt. Hood)
Pint
Glass
¥9,000 (excluding tax)
Text: STEEP Editorial Department Photo: sputnik