Werner’s Drinks Bottle

Every time you take a sip from this cream water bottle you can wonder about the plant, animal or mineral that inspired the different coloured squares which decorate the sides.

Hues such as ‘Flax Flower Blue’, ‘Buff Orange’ or ‘Aurora Red’ feature in colour charts from Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours book by Patrick Syme. It was first published in 1814 and used by naturalists to help describe wildlife in a consistent way before the era of photography.

Among those who used the book was Charles Darwin, while surveying specimens as part of the British navy’s voyage on HMS Beagle between 1831 and 1836.

The flask is made from stainless steel, with a plastic tumbler-style lid and slide-close pourer to drink from.