carafe
Design: dom Hans van der Laan, September 4th 1986. To anyone who has looked at images from the antique period, the design of this carafe will look familiar: the simplicity of something that was made to hold, slightly smaller than an adult hand. The carafe is held by the neck when being poured from and held by the body when being carried. It serves as an intermediary between our hands and the fluid, which allows the fluid to be transported and poured more efficiently. It is also a paragon of balance between the parts: not a large bulb and a small neck, also not a large neck and a small bulb, but a bulb and neck, properly proportioned, sufficiently distinct but yet one shape. The carafe is not only well shaped; the internal dimensions also have a certain “regularity” which Van der Laan calls the Plastic Number. This can explained as such: five sizes can be discovered: 30, 40, 53, 70 and 93mm, subsequent measures, the preceding measure always being ¾ of the next measure. These dimensions can be found in the drawing of the carafe below; the measures from top to bottom are the diameters: 40mm for the neck opening, 30mm for the neck below, 70mm for the body and 40mm for the foot. Vertically measured the dimensions are 70mm for the body and 93mm for the neck, 163mm together, or measured from inflection point to inflection point; 53, 40 and 70mm, which together are also 163mm. The measures do not only belong to a balanced shape – the carafe – but also exhibit a mutual balance. That mutual balance gives the carafe extra “clarity”, like a melody played on an instrument in tune.
Dick Pouderoyen 2010
