Briq

I've drunk water without thinking twice about how - cups, bottles and getting refills.

The briq (from إبريق, the Arabic word for pitcher) is a ceramic vessel you drink from without your mouth touching the spout. Water arcs from a small opening and into your mouth. It's a way of drinking that's old in some parts of the world and almost forgotten in others — the Spanish botijo, the Catalan porrón, among others, all carry some version of the same idea.

What follows are the affordances of that small design decision, and what each one makes possible.

Hygienic

because nobody's mouth touches the spout. The same briq can pass between several people without the saliva-borne risk of a shared cup or bottle — which also means it's genuinely shareable in settings where shared cups aren't.

Sustainable

because it barely needs washing — plain water doesn't really dirty it (anything else, of course, does). At end of life, a clay vessel breaks back into the ground it came from, leaving nothing behind that wasn't already there.

The material also does work no glazed cup can: unglazed terracotta is porous enough that water seeps slowly through the wall and evaporates on the outside, drawing heat from the inside as it goes. In summer the briq holds water several degrees cooler than the room around it — no electricity, no ice, just physics on loan from soil.¹

Natural

because it feels right to drink water from a vessel made of the same material it just traveled through. Before reaching a tap, water has been filtered and mineralized by soil and rock — the briq simply continues that geology in your hand.

Convenient

because it holds 1 to 1.6 litres — a table's worth — without becoming hard to lift. Which is also what makes it…

Social

by turning drinking into something you do together. No need to grab a glass, or two, or three — one briq makes the rounds, and a private act becomes a shared one.

Playful

because the spout geometry quickly humbles you. Two small challenges emerged in practice:

1 — How long can you keep the stream going in one go (without briefly drowning)?
2 — From what height can you still hit your mouth (not your chin, your collar, or the friend across from you)?

The cost of losing is just water spilled on yourself — which is also what makes it fun to watch other people try.

Notes