Bia Hơi Glass

Designed in Hanoi around 1976, the Bia Hơi glass became one of Vietnam’s most recognisable everyday objects.

At the time, Hanoi needed a proper glass for bia hơi — the city’s fresh draught beer. Designer Lê Huy Văn, trained in industrial arts in East Germany, was asked to draw something purpose-built.

He sketched the now-familiar tumbler in about an hour: a thick base so it would sit steady on low plastic stools, easy to grip, made to be stacked and used hard. The glass went into production around 1976 and became known as the cốc vại — the big cup of street beer culture.

It was never meant to feel precious. It was meant to survive busy pavements, cheap fills and long evenings. When a glass broke, the shards could be melted again. That loop — use, break, remake — helped the form last for decades in Hanoi’s bia hơi culture.

A set of four thick everyday drinking glasses commonly used across Vietnam for bia hơi, iced tea and table water.

Made from recycled glass, they were designed for repeated daily use rather than display.

Small bubbles, uneven edges and slight variations are part of the making process, not defects.

Each glass carries the everyday character of a café table: weight in the hand, clarity in the light and a shape that already feels familiar.

Broken glass is collected, remelted and shaped by glassworkers using moulds and traditional production methods.

The pale tint, small bubbles and variations in thickness come from the recycled material and the changing composition of each batch.