{"id":366603,"date":"2026-09-08T09:07:48","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T07:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/?p=366603"},"modified":"2026-09-08T09:27:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T07:27:26","slug":"custom-glass-tumbler-brief-to-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/custom-glass-tumbler-brief-to-production\/","title":{"rendered":"Custom Glass Tumblers: From Brief to Production"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A <strong>custom glass tumbler<\/strong> is a brand project before it is an industrial one. It starts from a brief, takes shape in a technical drawing, is understood by holding a physical sample, and is produced in Italy at the Borgonovo Val Tidone plant, ending with optional decoration at <strong>Decover Srl<\/strong>, the Group company specialising in <strong>glass decoration<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\" id=\"rank-math-toc\"><h2>On this page<\/h2><nav><ul><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#an-asset-for-a-brand\">Why a Custom Glass Tumbler Is an Asset for a Brand<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#the-brief\">The Brief: What Is Needed to Start<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#codesign-and-sampling\">Codesign and Sampling<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#production\">Production: Pressed, Blown and Press-and-Blow Glass<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#decoration-and-finishes\">Decoration and Finishes<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#packaging\">Packaging: The First Part of the Project People See<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#customize-your-product\">Customize Your Product<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"an-asset-for-a-brand\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why a Custom Glass Tumbler Is an Asset for a Brand<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A custom glass tumbler is a physical point of contact between the brand and the consumer: it stays in the hand for as long as the drink lasts, it appears in photographs and it often goes home with the guest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three situations, more than any others, bring out its value:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In <strong>professional service<\/strong> the tumbler identifies the brand at the bar and in the dining room, for the whole time the customer spends in the venue;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In <strong>retail and gifting<\/strong> it goes into a gift box and shapes the perception of the product before the pack is opened;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In <strong>promotional activity<\/strong> it is the object the consumer takes away, and that speaks for the brand once the campaign is over.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The value does not end with the drink. Anyone who has used that glass <strong>recognises the brand<\/strong> when they come across it again, and sometimes goes looking for it: a name read on a glass in a bar leads the consumer to look up the company or the product unprompted. This is why <strong>shape and decoration are elements of identity<\/strong>, not an aesthetic detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Customization, moreover, is not only a matter of applying a brand to an existing shape. The highest level is the search for a new line: a study of form and product design that leads to a recognisable object before any logo appears on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hence the two levels on which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/customise-your-product\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">customization<\/a> works. The first works on the shape, and so on the design and making of a new mould: this is the industrial project proper, a shape drawn for one brand alone and made to last. The second works on the surface of an existing model: here it is the decoration that carries the brand identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"the-brief\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Brief: What Is Needed to Start<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>brief<\/strong> is the moment <strong>an idea becomes a project<\/strong> that can be built. A few pieces of information are enough to obtain, at the very first exchange, an initial technical assessment and an indication of the most suitable route. They do not all need to be settled from the outset: the sales department and the technical office at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/company\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Vetreria di Borgonovo<\/a> work alongside the customer to define them, up to the final brief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Intended use<\/strong><\/td><td>Professional service, retail, promotional and gifting have different resistance and finish requirements.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Starting shape<\/strong><\/td><td>An existing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/catalogue-products\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">catalogue article<\/a> to be decorated, or a new shape from a drawing, which is the full Linea Personalizzata route. This is what determines whether a mould is required.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Capacity and fill level<\/strong><\/td><td>Beyond the capacity of the glass, it needs to be known whether a certified fill line is required under the Measuring Instruments Directive (M.I.D.).<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Overall dimensions<\/strong><\/td><td>Height and maximum diameter constrain washing racks, shelves, displays and pack format.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Glass weight<\/strong><\/td><td>A design choice before a technical figure: it defines how the piece feels in the hand, affects cost and guides the forming technology.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Decoration<\/strong><\/td><td>In the glass, with embossing or recesses obtained from the mould, or applied to the surface. Then the number of colours, the position and the wrap around the body.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Regulatory requirements<\/strong><\/td><td>Food contact, industrial washing, destination markets and the related documentary obligations.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Date the product must be available<\/strong><\/td><td>With the date in hand, the project is built around the deadline.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"codesign-and-sampling\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Codesign and Sampling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At this stage, the brief becomes a technical drawing. <strong>Codesign<\/strong> is the work carried out jointly by the brand and the technical office at Vetreria di Borgonovo to bring an idea of a shape within the constraints of the process: wall thickness, fillet radii, mould draft, glass distribution, stability and mechanical strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is where the project meets the properties of glass, the ones a rendering does not show. The technical office studies the customer&#8217;s idea alongside the requirements and preferences set out in the brief, then proposes the best solution to take into production: it fine-tunes the details and, where the request calls for it, designs something new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some requests fall outside standard solutions: an unusual geometry, a particular wall thickness, an unprecedented combination of forming and decoration. These are the projects where the know-how of Vetreria di Borgonovo makes the difference: the <strong>technical office studies a dedicated solution<\/strong> and brings it to the customer together with the means of making it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Sampling<\/strong> is the production of one or more <strong>physical pieces before the production run begins<\/strong>. It allows the finished product to be seen and handled while everything can still be changed: the sample shows the final shape and the decoration on the glass, things no rendering conveys in full. Shape, actual capacity and stability are checked on it, and its approval becomes the reference against which the whole production run is aligned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"production\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Production: Pressed, Blown and Press-and-Blow Glass<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Glass can be formed in three ways, and each carries a character of its own: the sturdiness of pressed glass, the lightness of blown<strong> <\/strong>glass, the balance of press-and-blow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pressed glass<\/strong> gives a solid tumbler with thick walls and sharply defined relief and detail in the glass. <strong>Blown glass<\/strong> gives a light tumbler with thin walls, and allows the mouth to be narrower than the body. <strong>Press-and-blow<\/strong> holds the two together: the lightness of blown glass with more consistent wall thickness, even on elaborate shapes. Almost always it is the shape one has in mind that indicates the right technology on its own, and the choice is made together during development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vetreria di Borgonovo works with all three technologies at the same plant in Borgonovo Val Tidone. For a project this is a practical convenience: the desired shape is chosen and production is reached through a single point of contact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"decoration-and-finishes\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Decoration and Finishes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To decorate means bringing a brand&#8217;s visual identity onto the glass: a logo, a colour, a texture, a line of type. It is the step that turns a container into a recognisable object, and often the one that gives it elegance as well. An acid-etched or engraved tumbler stands out before the name it carries is even read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Decoration can be achieved in two ways: from the glass itself, or on its surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Decoration<\/strong> in the glass comes from the mould. Embossing and recesses are born with the piece: they must be defined before the mould is built and cannot be added later. A tumbler can therefore be customised with no applied decoration at all: the shape and the relief are enough to make it recognisable, and the surface stays smooth. The result depends on the technology: pressing gives a sharp, well-defined relief, while on blown glass the motif stays softer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Applied decoration, by contrast, reaches the tumbler once it is finished and can, in principle, be renewed with every new run on the same shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Decover offers several decoration techniques, each acting on the glass in a different way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Silkscreen printing<\/strong>: direct printing of a glass-based colour through a screen, then fixed by firing. It gives full, opaque colours, with one screen for each colour in the design.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pad printing<\/strong>: indirect printing by means of a silicone pad, one colour per pass. It reaches the surfaces a silkscreen frame cannot print, such as the foot of a stemmed glass or the base of a tumbler.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Laser decoration<\/strong>: modifies the surface of the glass without adding material. The mark appears frosted white against the clear glass, and it does not wear away or peel off.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Acid etching<\/strong>: renders the glass matt, in full or in part, changing how the piece feels as well as how it looks. [to be validated: acid etching applies where the process is acid-based; where it is sandblasting, the term should be changed]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Spraying<\/strong>: colour applied by spray, over the whole surface or part of it, for solid tones and even coverage.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Punto Perlage<\/strong>: laser-engraved micro-grooves on the inside of the base. They give the dissolved CO\u2082 a point at which to come out of solution, feeding a continuous rise of bubbles: hence their use on beer steins and sparkling wine glasses.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"packaging\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Packaging: The First Part of the Project People See<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Packaging is part of a custom glass tumbler project too, and Vetreria di Borgonovo customises the pack with the same care it devotes to the glass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>packaging formats available<\/strong> from the catalogue cover most requirements:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Brown box with dividers;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sleeve;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gift box;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pall-box, for volume supply;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Shrinkwrapped carton tray, for logistics and replenishment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On a custom project one of these formats is taken as a starting point and dressed, or a dedicated pack is developed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Labelling is added last. It is both an element of identity and a compliance requirement, since it also carries the manufacturer&#8217;s details and the batch number that makes the product traceable. Application follows the customer&#8217;s requirements, down to labelling of the individual piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"customize-your-product\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Customize Your Product<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/contacts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Get in touch<\/a> about a custom project. It can start from an idea that is still open, and take shape with the support of the sales department and the technical office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A custom glass tumbler is a brand project before it is an industrial one. It starts from a brief, takes shape in a technical drawing, is understood by holding a physical sample, and is produced in Italy at the Borgonovo Val Tidone plant, ending with optional decoration at Decover Srl, the Group company specialising in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":475,"featured_media":366609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-366603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/475"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366603"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":366952,"href":"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366603\/revisions\/366952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.borgonovo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}