PORRO wine pitcher, Bengt Orup (Johanfors, 1952)

I didn't realized I hadn't post anything at CW for the last 11 days... In my defense I have to say I am being pretty busy lately with a course I'm studying now. The only bad thing about it is that I must commute for two hours in every direction everyday. What makes every commuting second being worth it is that the course is great, I am making some great friends there and that the course takes place in Miraflores de la Sierra, one of the most beautiful villages in the mountains in Northern Madrid.

I have chosen this item today because of a comment Bellin just made about a Bertil Vallien design I posted one year ago which was inspired by the same traditional Spanish design ( http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/53276-jug-designed-by-bertil-vallien-boda-ca ).

Bengt Orup designed this PORRO pitcher in 1952, the very same year he started working for Johansfors, and it is clearly inspired by the traditional Spanish “porrón”, which is used to pour the wine (usually red wine) straight into the drinker’s mouth, but he changed the traditional shape into one that seems to be absolutely accurate to its function while adopting a very modern and geometric look. There is no doubt Orup knew about the porrón during a journey in Spain, (and I’d even dare to say in Catalonia, where it is called “porró”).

To drink from a porrón, a beginner starts by bringing the spout very close to his mouth and tilts it forward slowly so the beak points towards the teeth. Once the liquid starts coming out, the porró is pulled away from the face while the drinker looks up. To finish drinking, a beginner lowers the porrón and brings it back down and closer to the mouth again before stopping, quickly tilting the spout up at the last moment so there is no spillage. A regular user can start and stop drinking from the porrón with the spout held at a distance without spilling a drop.

PS: I have included the same picture in the mentioned post as it is very illustrative of hw to use a porrón.