This could be the mildly delusional me speaking but oh, what I’d give to be in a crowded bar, not being able to hear myself think while sipping on an Old Fashioned and admiring the swirling orb of ice in it. As perfect as that orb does tend to look with the orange peel above it and the alcohol around it, it seems like it could be perfected, be engineered to look better, and perform better.

It isn’t often that something as mundane as an ice-mold wins a design award, but it seems like the Icy Galaxy deserves recognition. Designed to look like a beautiful wavy orb of ice, the Icy Galaxy sphere does two things – It creates an interesting interaction with the liquid it’s immersed in, especially when the liquid slides into the orb’s multiple crevasses, but at the same time, it also helps rapidly cool drinks down by increasing the icy orb’s surface area (similar to how motorcycle engines come with fins that increase their surface area allowing wind to cool them more effectively). The orbs are crafted using silicone+plastic molds that create two spheres at a time, and the resulting ice spheres look absolutely mesmerizing when suspended in colorful liquids… sort of like galaxies within your glass!

The Icy Galaxy Ice Mold is a winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2020.

Designers: Ladan Zadfar and Mohammad Farshad