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The World's Purest Glass Design 

GAIWAN is based in Hamburg, Germany. We offer more than 300 loose leaf teas, most of them organic, and a range of hand-crafted glass products.

Every tea we offer has its own unique flavor and taste as well as its own color and translucency.

My name is Pawel Kazakow. I am the chief product designer and founder of GAIWAN. I believe that visual experience is an important part of the conscious enjoyment of the moment.

This realization together with the feedback of our customers inspired me to develop a glass design that is reduced to a minimum and puts all attention on the beverage.

Let us enhance every drinking experience by visually highlighting the content while moving the container to the background.

The Glass For Cool And Warm Beverages: ICEGOLD330   

This glass is hand-crafted of high-grade borosilicate. Its useable volume is 330 ml. It takes advantage of golden ratio for its minimal design. The thick walls make the glass heavy, durable and still highly transparent. At the edge the walls are even thicker and rounded, making it very comfortable for the lips. An absence of thick bottom reduces light refractions. You get such a clear vision of your beverage that your enjoyment starts even before you taste it:

The Glass For Hot and Cold Beverages: ICEGOLD330-T  

This glass is more versatile as it is perfectly suitable for hot and cold beverages. It has the same usable volume of 330 ml but adds thermal insulation. You can safely handle the glass, even with hot tea in it, and when containing cold drinks the outer wall stays dry by avoiding condensation. It also preserves the temperature of your beverage:

Hand-Crafted With Passion And Skill  

Every glass is hand-crafted with passion and skill. This short video shows the processes on how the actual product will be manufactured:

Properties And Specifications

Thermal Shock Resistance 

Both glasses can withstand an immediate change of temperature from 0 °C (32 °F) to 100 °C (212° F). In other words, you can put cold water with ice cubes, remove it and immediately pour boiling water into the same glass.

Golden Ratio Design

Two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. For the glass design, this applies to the ratio between height h and diameter d. Golden ratio permeates nature. Things that are designed with golden ratio in mind often perceived by humans as balanced and beautiful.

Balanced Against Falling Over

The golden ratio design together with the cylindrical shape gives the glass a very stable behavior. No matter empty or full, its design naturally protects it from accidental falling over. If you try to push the glass at the top edge it will move in the direction of the push but it will not fall over.

Timeline

• 09.2016: Design And Development
• 01.2017: First Prototype
• 03.2017: Design And Durability Tests
• 07.2017: Second Prototype
• 08.2017: Design And Durability Tests
• 11.2017: Kickstarter
• 01.2018: Molding And Production
• 03.2018: Delivery

About GAIWAN

The logo captures our story and the vision of the brand GAIWAN.  

Gaiwan is a Chinese lidded bowl used for infusion of tea leaves long before the teapot has been invented. Tea was discovered in China thousands of years ago. Since then it has spread all over the world and has become an integral part of many cultures. We treasure tradition and celebrate culture.

In the circle there is an idealized gaiwan, constructed using golden ratio. Tea is a natural drink. Golden ratio permeates nature. We choose life in balance with nature.

The outer circle, is decorated with 52 triangles which represent the 52 weeks of the year. And there is the circle with the cross, which is an ancient symbol for the sun. The sun gives light and power for tea leaves to grow. You can enjoy tea anytime, not just in cold winter, but also in hot summer and all other seasons. We believe that you can enjoy tea the whole year.

Our origin is Hamburg, Germany. And Germany is known for high-quality standards. We produce tea in Germany using ingredients from all over the world. To emphasize our origin there is the writing in the German language on the left, which means tea together. While in our western culture alcohol gets too much attention as a social beverage, we believe that tea has a much greater power to bring people together. We believe that tea is a powerful social drink.

On the left, there is the writing modern tea ceremony. This writing is in English because we want to reach the whole world with our vision. And we mean ceremony in a broader sense, which is about a moment of conscious enjoyment of life. To enhance this experience we provide high-quality teaware for tea brewing and enjoyment. Take time for yourself. Think about where you are going. Or stop thinking and just feel. We believe in conscious enjoyment of the moment with tea.

Buy Tea from GAIWAN  

You may buy our loose leaf tea in our Online Shop and on Amazon Germany, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy.

Our Earl Grey is Amazon's Choice for earl grey bio on Amazon.de:

Thank You

I thank my family and friends for the amazing support during the preparation of the campaign. Special thanks to Felix Liebel for the project video. I also thank our customers and suppliers for their amazing support and loyalty.

Risks and Challenges

Originally I planned to start this campaign with another product I have been developing for the last two years. In the process, I discovered that some parts are much more challenging to manufacture.

For my first campaign, I decided to switch to another product I have been working since the beginning of the year. This product is solely based on my glass manufacturing experience and does not need additional parts.

This way I have already reduced the risk to a minimum, as I am absolutely confident that we can mass-produce this glass in time while maintaining astounding quality.

In case of overwhelming support, there is a risk of a shipping delay. In any way, I will personally ensure that every supporter gets the reward.