Hario

Hario is a Japanese maker of heatproof glass and household goods. Its official timeline dates it to October 1921, when Hiromu Sibata founded Hiromu Sibata Works in Kanda Sudacho, Tokyo, to make and sell laboratory glassware. In 1940 the company built a factory with a glass crucible furnace in Ueno and began research into melting its own glass; in 1947 it started producing beakers, flasks, petri dishes and condensers under the Hiromu brand, named after the founder, and in August 1949, after years of research, it succeeded in melting "Hario Glass" for the first time. According to the page of its subsidiary HARIO Europe, the name Hario combines the Japanese words for "glass" (hari) and "king" (ō): "King of Glass".

The move into household goods came in 1948 with the coffee siphon, the first product aimed at end consumers after decades of laboratory equipment only. In 1964 the heatproof glass tableware sales division was spun off as HARIO CO., LTD.; in 1985 the Koga factory followed as SIBATA GLASS CO., LTD., and in 1999 the two companies merged to form HARIO GLASS CO., LTD., which became HARIO CO., LTD. again in 2012 after merging with Hario Tec. The company is now headquartered at Nihonbashi Tomizawa-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo.

The cone-shaped V60 dripper came out in 2005: the timeline describes it as loved by baristas around the world and names the 1980 Mini Coffee Dripper as its prototype. Since 2010 Hario has set up companies in China, South Korea, the United States and Europe, and alongside its coffee line it designs and sells heatproof glassware and household items, including teapots, kitchen tools and storage containers.