COOL CARAFE WILL CHARM CUSTOMERS

In a few short months, the tables of some of London's finest eateries and watering holes will be graced by an iconic and sustainable glass carafe, chosen from more than 100 entries to the London On Tap 'carafe for London' competition.

Today, the public will have their first taste of what the carafe might look like, as a shortlist of ten designs is unveiled at London's City Hall by Richard Aylard from Thames Water, and Rosie Boycott, the recently appointed Chair of London Food.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: "This is a magnificent campaign that will empower customers in bars and restaurants across the capital to ask for tap water rather than feeling compelled to ask for expensive bottled brands. More importantly, drinking tap water will cut the amount of plastic and glass waste that we create and in turn will reduce the size of the capital's carbon footprint. The designs exhibited today are testament to talented designers that we have in London and I look forward to announcing the winner in December."

Thames Water sustainability director Richard Aylard, said: "It's wonderful that we've had such a fantastic response from London's designers to our challenge. London's tap water is the best in the world and we should be proud of it. We look forward to seeing it served in one of these beautiful carafes all across London."

There were one hundred and fifteen entries to the competition, to design a one-litre capacity glass carafe that embodied the best qualities of contemporary design and craftsmanship. The designs, which have made it on to the shortlist are not only stylish but have the potential to be made mostly with recycled glass.

All short-listed entries will be made into prototypes and judged on November 13 by key figures from the worlds of design, hospitality and the environment, including celebrity chef Aldo Zilli; Zaha Hadid, architect of the London 2012 Olympic Aquatics Centre and Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth.

The winning design will be announced in December with a £5,000 prize awarded to the winner. The carafe will be mass manufactured from January 2009 with carafes expected to start appearing across London by April.

Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director of the Crafts Council, which organised the design competition for London On Tap, said: "It was extremely exciting to see all the designs submitted by makers for this unique competition. London is one of the world's creative capitals and the entries really reflected the range of contemporary craft talent. I think the winning carafe will add a pleasurable incentive to ordering tap water in restaurants."

The London On Tap campaign was launched in February, to promote the serving, and consumption of London's tap water in its thousands of restaurants, bars and hotels. Since then, sales of bottled water in the UK have plummeted with more consumers switching to tap water as the greener choice.

Images of the shortlisted designers and their designs can be viewed at www.londonontap.org

Words: Clare Riley

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