Just as I introduce my new series of posts on novelty tea ware, World Kitchen just go and make my job a whole lot easier with a tea kettle design competition.

One Tea Kettle

At first glance, the One tea kettle looks more like a vase than a kettle (Granted, it scores points already for the Space Invaders theme of one of the designs.) But here’s what makes this kettle special: not only is it to be used for heating, it’s also designed for serving the tea.

As you heat the kettle over a stove, its graphics become fully visible, indicating that the water has reached boiling point. Remove the kettle from the stove, magnetically attach it to the trivet and – voila! – your tea kettle becomes your teapot.

The One tea kettle took out the top prize. It was designed by Vessel Ideation.

Spin Tea Kettle

The Spin tea kettle.

Lazy? I mean, really, really lazy? The Spin tea kettle is just for you.

The basic premise of Spin is that it allows you to pour water with “less strain”. It does this by retaining a stable centre of gravity – rather than tipping the kettle to pour, you slide a switch which tips the spout.

Since you don’t have to use your arm or wrist to pour, this is apparently a safer way of pouring that improves your balance, control and precision.

All good things of course. But let’s not forget the irresistible appeal of a product that allows us to do what we normally would do, with slightly less effort.

The Spin tea kettle is the work of Martin Giraud, an industrial designer from Buenos Aires.

Tea-Go Tea Kettle

The Tea-Go tea kettle.

I’m not one for using a microwave at any point of my tea preparation routine, but I know many people do. The Tea-Go tea kettle is specifically designed to let you make a single cup of tea in your microwave. It even lets you set the temperature you want your water to heat to.

The Tea-Go is designed for people on the go: once you’ve heated your water, you can remove the kettle’s inner container, which doubles as a travel cup and includes a hole through which you can steep and remove tea bags.

The Tea-Go tea kettle was designed by the folk from Ram Industrial Design.

More novelty tea ware

There’s plenty more where this came from. Check out these other posts on brilliant teapots, cups and more.

• Tea Tumblers: A Buyer’s Overview of the Options
• Stain: the Tea Cup that Improves with Use
• 19 Weird and Wacky Teapots
• The Tifi Tea Strainer

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | 3 Brilliant Tea Kettle Designs: Tea-Off Competition Winners | 4 comments |
Post categories: Tea cups and teapots
Post tags: one tea kettle, spin tea kettle, tea kettles, tea-go tea kettle, Wonderful World of Novelty Tea Ware