A British ad agency has designed two updated versions of the classic pint glass with the intention of making bars (and sports arenas) a bit safer.
If you think redesigning a near-national symbol is easy, think again. The “Glass Plus” and “Twin Wall” pint glasses, designed by London-based Design Bridge, eschew traditional alternatives such as plastic — which people either fear or don’t prefer — or toughened glass, which is expensive to produce and explosive when broken.
Instead, “Glass Plus” takes a traditional glass pint glass and sprays it with a resin that keeps the glass together when broken, functionally similar to the safety glass found in the windshields of vehicles and inexpensive to implement in the factory.
Similarly, “Twin Wall” takes the safety glass comparison to a new level by sandwiching a layer of resin between two layers of glass, strengthening the entire product.
Both appear the same as traditional pint glasses, the only difference being that the Twin Wall model is slightly heavier.
The ad agency designed the glasses as part of the Design Council’s Design Out Crime program. The reason: there are some 87,000 glass attacks each year in the U.K., ending with an estimated National Health Service bill of £2.7 billion, or approximately $4.2 billion U.S.
The only problem, of course? A redesigned pint glass won’t stop bar violence from occurring.
But if a few lacerations can be spared during a heated moment during a football game, well, that’s functional design that works.
