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Remedial Design: Quick DIY Fix for Slippery Glass Bottles and Vessels

Cheaply improving the UX of the OXO Good Grips Precision Pour Dispenser

By Rain Noe - February 5

in Human Factors | Packaging

I get my olive oil from Walmart. Their Great Value brand is affordable but the packaging sucks: The bottle is plastic, and the non-removable spout dumps product uncontrollably.

Preferring to use glass and wanting better control, I'd decanted the olive oil into a whiskey bottle and added an old OXO spout I had.

Over time I grew dissatisfied with the UX of this arrangement. While the corner edges of the chunky Johnny Walker bottle provide a secure grip, and the spout does offer greater precision, the overall package is too tall to conveniently store. Hence it lives on the counter, taking up precious space.

As a fix I bought this OXO Good Grips Precision Pour Dispenser. It's a lot shorter, just under 8" in height.

However, the "Good Grips" part of the name is a lie; the slim vessel is glass and slippery as hell. It's a matter of time before I drop and break this.

To compensate, I added a bunch of rubber bands that I saved from asparagus bundles.

I'm still playing with the spacing, but so far they offer a surprisingly secure grip. And the striped arrangement is better than a full silicone sleeve as you can see how much product is left.

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Carlos Bonet Abad

8 months ago

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do anyone of you know the design by Rafael Marquina? It is considered for many people as the best in terms of functionality. I read he got inspired lab vessels. The bottle has a dispenser for a controlled an continuous pour just with one hand, and after serving the olive drops fall again into the bottle. Not a single drop on the outer side. THe patent expired quite a few years ago, and Rafael collected a lot of knockoffs, but some of them didn't work properly, something he joked about: "if you copy something, at least do it properly"

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Michael Ayukawa

9 months ago

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I've found it necessary to have some sort of seal over the open tube on dispensers like these. To keep the fruit flies out. Especially on balsamic vinegar. There are a variety of hinged flapper tops, not unlike those you see on farm tractors exhaust vertical stacks. These stoppers are inserted into whatever random bottle you may have to reuse, like your JW. Trick is, like you found, to find one that isn't too tall.

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Martin Rosenblum

9 months ago

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Excellent solution!

As I may have mentioned before, OXO is no longer the company it was once. It was bought by "Helen of Troy." Helen is famous for a tax avoidance scheme rather than product design.

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