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Carafe has designs on the capital's free water
Mark Prigg, Science Correspondent01.12.08
The winning design for a tap water carafe to be used in thousands of restaurants and bars in the capital is revealed today.
Called Tap Top, the design was being unveiled by Boris Johnson before mass production using recycled glass begins in January.
The carafe is the work of industrial designer Neil Barron, from Islington-based Gusto Design, who was today awarded £5,000. He described the carafe as "derived from a stylised tap control to subtly reinforce the tap water message, this produces four pouring spouts which are drip-free and completely instinctive to use."
It was chosen by a panel of 10 judges, including architect Zaha Hadid and cook Aldo Zilli.
The contest, organised by Thames Water, aimed to increase the use of tap water in London. It followed the Standard's successful Water On Tap campaign, which signed up more than 3,000 bars and restaurants to offer free tap water. Thames hopes many of those venues will use the carafe.
David Owens, of Thames Water, said: "This competition has been a fantastic success. It's a credit to London's designers. London tap water is probably the best in the world, we have combined that with world-class design. We hope this can help reduce the environmental impact of water."
The £2 billion UK bottled-water market, with imported bottles and water coming from as far afield as Fiji, creates huge amounts of CO2 - 300 times more than tap water.
Tony Juniper, environmental campaigner and sustainability adviser for the contest, said: "This is a beautiful design. It will serve as an attractive and durable reminder to Londoners that we have a perfectly good source of water flowing from our taps. By drinking this instead of bottled water we can cut down on waste and greenhouse gas emissions."
Reader views (10)
Crikey, how many experts does it take to approve a water jug? Zaha Hadid's the woman who designed a firestation so iconic the firemen couldn't use it: see the Telegraph archive for a very funny recent interview with her, exposing her vain delusions.
Surely the easiest way to 'subtly reinforce the tapwater message' is to rule that restaurants have to have a jug on the table for every new customer as a public health measure, just like providing loos.
- Mdj, Leyton, e10 london
Paul and Robert: It's a jug for tap water, why would you need to clean it?
- Dan, London
Does anyone know the measurements of this 'thing' please?
- Marina, East Anglia
I always stick my head under the tap.
- Frank, Saarbrueken, Germany
...and I was convinced the winning design would look like the Gherkin
- Karen Kennedy, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Good, clever design. Just hope it's not too tall for dishwashers.
- Karli, Tottenham, London
I think i will stick with Evian
- Mr S.Port, London
Just be grateful they didn't go with the specimen bottle.
- Deborah, London
How on earth do you clean it?
- Robert Turner, United Kingdom
Looks great but not so easy to clean the inside me thinks.
- Paul, London
