new products

Used wine bottles transformed into beautiful glassware

10 Comments
By Yoshio

Okay, we have good news for wine lovers who feel guilty about creating lots of trash by opening all of those wine bottles. See the picture? Yes, you guessed it – used wine bottles are now being made into beautiful glassware! Isn’t this a great, eco-friendly way to recycle wine bottles? I, for one, definitely wouldn’t mind having such nice looking plates at home.

This line of unique recycled glassware was developed by Tokyo-based company Kimoto Glassware Co Ltd and they are calling it “funew” glassware. (The name funew probably comes from an onomatopoeic expression in Japanese that describes something melting or becoming soft and malleable.) They achieve the interesting shape by melting the wine bottle in an electric furnace at a temperature of 500 degrees C (932 degrees F). Usually, a temperature of 1500 degrees C (2732 degrees F) is required to completely melt glass, but since funew can be made at one-third of that temperature, it is also environment-friendly in terms of energy use.

And they’ve created more than just glass plates – they even have glass cups as well, also made from used wine bottles. Well, we think such creative and functional products are just great! Our hats are off to the folks at Kimoto Glassware who have turned the simple idea of recycling wine bottles into glass products unlike any we’ve seen before.

Unfortunately, they don’t let you bring in your own used wine bottle to have it made into a plate or cup, but if you’re in the Tokyo area, funew glassware is now available at the Shinjuku Isetan Department Store, as well as the Nihonbashi and Ginza Mitsukoshi Department Stores. They may be just what you’re looking for if you want one-of-a kind plates and cups.

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10 Comments
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Almost certainly less energy efficient than reprocessing the bottles at a large-scale factory.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

JohhnyGlitterball

Cletus, if it is made by a Japanese company it is usually called unique.

So true, l have noticed that and find it amusing..... Oh how the world revolves around these little islands....

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Cletus, if it is made by a Japanese company it is usually called unique.

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This line of unique recycled glassware was developed by Tokyo-based company Kimoto Glassware Co Ltd and they are calling it “funew” glassware.

Funny, claiming that this UNIQUE recycled glassware was made by this Tokyo company. We found this EXACT style of recycled glassware in the US, made in the US from local wine bottles quite some time ago. So unique? Nope, developed in Japan? Nope. Sounds and looks very much like they are copying what has been around elsewhere for quite some time.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Used wine bottles transformed into eyesores.

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gurudaimon wrote:

so basically they get the bottles free melt it and sell u for a killing.

Or, to put it another way, they take trash and convert it into a living, helping the earth and getting paid for it. Instead of, say, sitting on their duff ragging people who actually do something cool.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

this is a really old concept', its neither innovative or unique - it's been around for years. I have a ashtray made from a beer bottle that my dad gave me, that he bought in the 70's

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One man's trash is another man's treasure. Innovation is not about creating new things but can involve converting something no one thinks is vital, feasible, or unprofitable. Thumbs up if there can be a business made here.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I have watched glassmakers do this in Okinawa. They make some pretty good stuff down there ...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

so basically they get the bottles free melt it and sell u for a killing.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

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