Teapot

A plan to develop a Yorkshire Teapot has obvious local connotations for an area of famed tea drinkers.

Design Yorkshire is now in advanced design stages for the teapot, and has had support from relevant client sources including teamaker Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate. The company’s creative director, Mary Godfrey, is an enthusiastic supporter of the project and, at regular meetings, brings a tea expert’s view of how the design will function. Her experiences of how people use their pots, and the common gripes they have, have been taken on board.

A number of local manufacturers, including Morphy Richards, have expressed an interest in manufacturing the end product.

It is, of course, no run-of-the-mill teapot. It has a main body made of glass, which allows easy judging of how strong the brew has become, and the proposed pot also features a graceful handle which gives the whole structure a delicate circular shape. It has been developed to be easy to use and clean and has a secret device which all those involved hope will become its unique selling point. (A patent application is pending.)

Other client companies, such as manufacturing company Avesta Sheffield, have also been involved. Regular meetings, which have generally been held at Elmwood’s offices, have seen diverse members of Design Yorkshire write and refine the brief for the project. Product design group Blueprint has been charged with translating these into a workable design. Pictures of the working model above, do not feature the secret part of the design.

‘In Utopia such a teapot might even replace the stainless steel teapots that are so often seen in service stations,’ states Design Yorkshire’s brochure. The catering industry is seen as a key market if the new model is to get widespread exposure.

Keen to set a good example, Design Yorkshire has operated a best practice approach to the use of design groups since it formed. All design work is officially commissioned and paid for. No free pitching is demanded either.