Standing roughly 10 centimetres tall, deep and wide, the cube teapot serves about a litre of tea in a non-slip, non-drip design.

From the tiny artisanal yixing clay teapots of China to the sturdy and rotund Brown Betty, teapot design has long been a fascinating process. Among the features that are highly prized: a practical handle for ease of pouring, a non-drip spout and an elegant shape. In the case of the cube teapot, two out of three ain’t bad.

As its name implies, it was a teapot shaped as a cube, its dimensions usually between 10 and 15 centimetres tall, deep and wide, to serve about a litre of tea. In one top corner was its spout; opposite, a cutout handle. It could be made of either ceramic or metal according to its inventor, the English engineer Robert Crawford Johnson.

Why a cube? This teapot was designed for ships. The stable square base meant it didn’t roll in rough seas and, without a projecting spout or handle, it was chip-resistant and easy to stack, which made it ideal for the tight storage spaces on board.

The first cube teapots were patented in 1917 and made in 1920. They became fixtures on ocean liners such as Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth II up until the 1980s. It was the most successful patented teapot in Europe and America of its time and, in addition to ships, they also found their way aboard trains, and into restaurants and hotels.

The unapologetically modern design may not have a classic teapot shape, but I’m all for a practical brewing vessel that allows people to drink tea at sea.