apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

elegant, sustainable, gorgeous, and expensive.

Green but ridiculously expensive. A bottle comes free when you buy the wine.

I agree it is pricey, but I am one who enjoys a throwback to times when activities such as drinking wine were more thought out. The age-old ritual of decanting wine is something that many have lost touch with, and I think its great that we can still partake while being green!

Yes, a bottle comes with the wine when you buy it, but some wines definitely need to be decanted - it all depends on what wines you normally drink.

I agree with greenlady, but it makes me tired that something so essential, environmentally sensible, and practical as recycling waste into useful objects has to become trendy before it catches on--and then it's all chic and Very Pricey.

--sigh--

I think it's important to remember that this is a Hand-Blown Object. This is an incredibly difficult skill to acquire, not to mention expensive in terms of studio time and materials.

When I buy hand made objects by designers/artists, I have the opportunity to invest in/support my creative community as well as acquiring a gorgeous object. That's worth a little bit more money to me. But then, I like to support the arts and drink good wine or pdxwater. (These carafes are the water carafe of choice at my favorite restaurants in portland, or.)

There are tons of skilled glassblowers in China and Mexico, and I'm sure in many other countries, too. They do great work. You can buy small hand-blown objects such as fruit, tumblers, and paperweights at some dollar stores. You also can get tons of interesting glass at places like Tuesday Morning, Filene's Basement, or TJ Max. It's not an incredibly difficult skill to learn, nor sand particularly expensive.

This particular piece is overpriced and not terribly unique since multiple restaurants in Portland use them as water carafes. The retail mark-up must be horrendous.

"Hand-Blown Object" !!!!

As said above... decent looking and too expensive.

Here's a solution:
(1) Pour wine into a mixing bowl.
(2) Use electric mixer for roughly two minutes.
(3) Return wine to bottle (using a funnel).
(4) Enjoy a seemingly $50 bottle of wine for $10.

ps one of my friends is an apprentice to be a glass blower and we hang out with all the dudes that do it for a living - and this is a tiny little business in the middle of birmingham alabama and they don't even price this high - and it's really not THAT hard to learn - the hardest part is that the big long metal tube thing can get really heavy and hot - and the ovens heat the entire warehouse - but it's not that hard.

I'm not getting the disgruntlement over the price of this object. An artist made it, using technology that protects the environment, preserves precious resources, keeps glass out of the waste stream, and does it using a traditional handwork technique that requires skill and training. Retail prices are generally double the wholesale price, which means that Justin Parker et al. got paid about $79 for hours of time, equipment costs, all their overhead, marketing, studio space, utilities, office expenses, shipping, and on and on. The expenses involved in running any kind of business are so numerous and every one of them needs to be covered by the price of products. This isn't new information--it's just reality.

It's cheaper to buy products made in China, but I don't think anyone here needs it explained to them the corners that get cut in order to achieve that pricing. The point of this entry is that this is a green product, not that it's a bargain. If the most you're willing to pay for a handmade glass item is the wage of a skilled glassblower in an unsafe, toxic, coal-burning factory in a third-world country, there are lots of chain stores happy to sell you something on those terms. Go do it, but please don't complain at the same time because other companies are trying to produce products in a different way that happens to cost more.

We should be grateful that the existence of green companies benefits all of us, regardless of whether we buy from them. As long as they're in business, they're meeting some consumer demand in a clean, healthy way, and by doing so, also reducing the demand for unsustainable, polluting versions. How is that ever bad, or worthy of censure? Yes, we can't all afford every product, so we make green choices in simpler ways--but to tear down people who are trying to make a difference because you think they owe it to you to figure out a cheaper way to do it just seems small-minded and entitled.

Yes. Bottle comes with wine when you buy it.

If you wanted to be really green you could also neck it and skip the glasses all together.

Mr Green, I've been reading AT for over a year and i've never been so disappointed in a poster. It's not just this example, but all over AT. I have no idea why you need to demean other people's opinions so often, but it's off-putting, leaving a nasty haze on AT. Would you mind being a little less snarky when you comment? Thanks