Taking tradition and turning it into something contemporary, the Molo Float Tea Lantern is an absolute design delight. With a thin borosilicate glass construction and double walls, the tea-brewing kit almost makes the liquid look like it’s levitating in mid air, as the glass, as the images show, is hardly visible, given how thin its cross section is. Master glassblowers in the Czech Republic handcraft each piece from the finest German borosilicate glass, keeping the tea-kit unbelievably thin, while allowing it to hold incredibly hot or cold liquids without cracking.

Molo’s Float Tea Lantern presents an absolutely new way of brewing and consuming tea that’s still steeped in tradition. The brewer features a double-wall construction, with enough space below the inner vessel for a tea-light candle to help keep your brew warm. A perforated glass chamber sits atop the ‘kettle’, allowing you to brew green tea as it filters through into the kettle, being heated to consumption temperature by the candle. The double-wall construction proves handy here, allowing you to lift and serve the vessel without feeling its heat, as the outer wall stays conveniently insulated against high temperatures thanks to a constriction in the middle of the kettle’s design. The miniature glasses come with a double-walled construction too, allowing you to sip your tea at leisure, without worrying about your fingers burning from holding a cup full of hot tea! The Float Tea Lantern even comes in a frosted version, blurring the crisp lines of the kettle and cup’s inner walls, creating a sense of steam or frost, and even arousing one’s curiosity!

Designers: Stephanie Forsythe & Todd MacAllen for Molo.