![Peter Zumthor for Alessi](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/02/dezeen_Peter-Zumthor-for-Alessi_1.jpg)
Glassware by Peter Zumthor for Alessi
Product news: Swiss architect Peter Zumthor has designed a collection of glass condiment containers for Italian design brand Alessi.
The five-piece set comprises a tall cruet for oils and vinegars and four smaller shakers for salt, pepper, sugar and spices. Each one has a frosted glass body and a stainless steel head.
Zumthor describes how he came up with the concept years earlier, when he made a drawing of a salt dispenser while having breakfast in a hotel. "I made a quick sketch of thin lines suggesting an object which could hold grains or liquids."
![Peter Zumthor for Alessi Peter Zumthor for Alessi](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/02/dezeen_Peter-Zumthor-for-Alessi_2.jpg)
He explains that the sketch hung on the wall of his studio for many years until he could no longer remember what is was, and even mistook it for a skyscraper. "One day, the memory of my morning in the hotel came back to me and I recalled why I made the sketch," he said. "At once, I took the sketch down to my model workshop and asked Iris to produce a series of glycerine soap models according to the sketch, which should look like brothers and sisters, small and big but all members of the same family. She shaped a beautiful menagerie of glycerine soap objects resembling frosted glass."
Peter Zumthor is being awarded the Royal Gold Medal for architecture in a ceremony today at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London. In a lecture last night, he told an audience that his architecture is not about form-making. Past projects by Zumthor include the Steilneset Memorial in Norway and the 2011 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion.
Alessi was founded outside Milan as a metal tableware producer the 1920s, became synonymous with designer kettles in the 1980s and now works with a host of international designers including the Campana Brothers, Karim Rashid and David Chipperfield. A selection of Alessi watches is available from Dezeen Watch Store.
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