If you have ever felt frustrated because you are having difficulty in opening a jar, you would be able to appreciate Japanese designer Noriko Hashida’s new and improved version of the classic glass jar.
Hashida and her design team found out that the optimal jar shape for ease of opening is the parallelogram—it allows users to hold on to it tightly and open it with a weaker force.
After conducting experiments with men and women in their 20s to 80s, they found out that a jar is easier to hold when it fits the shape of the user’s hand, and that it is easier to open when it is smooth from its neck to its body.
The result of this research is a redesigned glass jar that has an unconventional parallelogram-shaped cross-section, which allows the elderly, women and children—who more often had problems with opening jars—to open it without trouble.
Hakuyo Glass, who worked in partnership with Hashida, has already filed a patent application for this bottle design—they plan to use it to store food such as jam.
[via Nikkei Technology]