Core77

As he promised at the end of last year, designer Aaron Panone is forging ahead with his latest personal project, a collaboration with Joshua Resnikoff. The "Cuppow" (say it out loud for full effect) is essentially a custom-molded lid for a standard Ball jar, designed to facilitate drinking from the iconic vessel.

The canning jar already makes an awesome platform for a travel mug: it's easy to clean, made of heat-resistant glass, cheap, durable, and when sealed it doesn't leak. The only problem is that with their large openings, canning jars are not great for spill-free sipping while on the move. So we adapted it—made a new lid that lets us drink like a boss from virtually any wide mouth canning jar. It's a simple eco-friendly alternative to poor-performing and messy disposable hot cups, and over-built and expensive travel mugs.

Panone and Resnikoff are "proud to have developed a product that we look forward to using every day... it works great, it's super durable, it's made in the USA, it's BPA free, it's recyclable, and it doesn't break the bank."

See it in glorious, sun-drenched action:

Resnikoff, who is currently completing his M.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Tufts, originally brought the idea to Panone, who related on his blog: "At first I thought that it was a dumb idea, but the more I thought about it, the less dumb it sounded (and now I don't think that it is dumb at all!)."

Once he did a little research, Panone arrived at a "potentially novel retention and closure technique." The rest, as they say, is history:

I designed a version that was made from stainless steel and hydroformed from a disc of sheet stock. We then realized that due to the temperature issue with the stainless and potentially hot liquids inside of the jar, that plastic would be better. I did a rough plastic design, and a few months later we had an SLA prototype made.

The designers acknowledge that they couldn't have done it without a little help from their friends:

Our amazing and talented friends, Natalya Zahn and Repeat Press designed, printed, and cut the packaging. Our pals Atedrake hooked us up with a website, and best buddy Paper Fortress made our video. Most of this happened under one roof, at Fringe, in Somerville, Massachusetts.

We've seen questionable drink paraphernalia before, but the Cuppow is definitely a practical accessory for the modern foodie. At worst, it's something like a grown-up sippy cup, which actually sounds like a neat idea in itself... and a possible candidate for the new Food Design category of the 2012 Core77 Design Awards, set to launch next week (hint, hint)...