nir shamir uses ceramics and copper tools to recreate a turkish coffee ritual

in homage to the traditions of turkish coffee, nir shamir has made a set of tools to recreate the brewing method at home. shamir’s coffee research began at the design academy ‘holon institute of technology’ and with a lifetime of drinking it. and as an israeli soldier he began enjoying turkish coffee, which is prepared and drank outdoors using gas stoves, small glasses, cold water and an ibrik. the project begins with this array of simple components, which when put together to cook and prepare the hot beverage result in a small ritual.

the original components of brewing turkish coffee

all images courtesy of nir shamir

as shamir began his research about traditional turkish coffee, he was fascinated about sand cooking – a typical brewing technique that uses a pan filled with sand, heated over an open flame. with this in mind, the designer decided to bring this outdoor process inside, to create a turkish coffee ritual at home.

for the first step he gathered generic products that would define the boundaries of materiality, functionality, and the volume of each product. they included a small coffee drinking cup, an ibrik (cooking pot), a bottle of water, a tin can for the grounded coffee beans, a spoon, a primus cooking stove and a plate to cook on with the sand. shamir then reinterpreted these items into a series of new products.

the new ibrik is formed with the bottom part made of copper for better heating, and the top part by ceramic with two handles (for the host and guest). the bottle is made of two parts of glass with a long neck for better grip. the cup is colored pink inside and made by ceramic, while the tin can and spoon are made by copper cast. the plate is copper and the purple sand is iron infused sand from hamakhtesh hagadol. finally, the stove is switched from gas to alcohol so not to leave any trace of smell and color, surrounded by a ceramic cover.

project info:

project name: ‘turkish coffee ritual’

design: nir shamir

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lynne myers | designboom