Hanoi Capsule Collection (2019)
Bia Hoi Glass

Icon from Hanoi | Available Now!
9
The iconic draft beer glass from the pavements of Hanoi.
Handmade from recycled glass. Every piece is unique.
Big and sturdy. Takes about 350ml of liquid, preferably beer.
Ideal for casual dinners with friends and picnics around town.

An insignia of a day well spent.

When you stay in Hanoi, there is no way to not notice Bia Hoi. It is the kind of joyeus gathering you cannot resist. On almost every corner, Hainoese gather to sit at tiny tables to enjoy glasses of Bia Hoi — fresh beer, a non-controlled, non supervised, doubtful hygienic process of producing batches of unpasteurized beer for the daily thirst of a city finishing up its day. A get-together of friends, after work, to enjoy the fruits of labour, to talk about the daily issues, daily problems, daily joys.
The ice cold, somewhat bitter, refreshing beer comes in this glass — and only in this glass. It is a cultural icon that shines through the screaming, the noisy chatter of patrons, the roaring of motorbikes, the everlasting droning of fans. Green emerald glass, filled with bubbles and pieces of coal and insects. It has a crooked smile, grows in every direction, has been falling down ever since: bloody knees & scabbed wounds. Its random fluid shape, undulating edges and visible clues to how it is made are the casual totems necessary to gather around and expel the daily worries with strenuous laughs and copious gulps of refreshing ambar joy.
Along with the Bia Hois come delicious and plentiful plates of food. It is a feast, a daily celebration of friendship and community.
A truly Vietnamese story
Bia Hoi and its glass is a typical Vietnamese story. It involves foreign influences and the pragmatic way the Vietnamese people keep what is good and make it their own. The French presumably introduced draught beer into the Vietnamese canton of street food. Resources in the late seventies were so scarce that the people of Hanoi did not have the proper containers to drink their Bia Hoi. Le Huy Van — a Vietnamese designer who was educated at Burg Giebichstein, Hochschule für Kunst in Halle in Germany — was tasked to create a glass, that is cheap and sturdy. As the story goes, he sat down for an hour and produced the today well known design.

One village for all the glasses
All glasses are handmade from recycled glass in Xoi Tri village in the Nam Dinh province by only three family run businesses. They only produce these glasses for the capital and no-one really understands why the Haionese refuse to drink their Bia Hoi from a different container. But we feel with them: this glass with its in-perfection, its crudeness and simplicity of design feeds the experience on a guttural level. It is an easy endeavour, a simple joy.
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