Add A Touch Of Whimsy To Your Summer Table With Unique Vases

The unexpected can always bring a fun twist to your interiors. Instead of the usual floral ensemble, why not spruce your spaces with vases that are imbued with an offbeat character? You’ll find that their whimsical nature alone speaks volumes, and all it takes is a minimal sprig of green or a simple cluster of blooms to cap them off, and they’ll punctuate any boring corner or tablescape.

 

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1. Go full-on whimsical with a happy face.

Check out this Happy Susto vase by Spanish artist-designer Jaime Hayon for BD Barcelona Design. The Madrid-born designer is known for his Mediterranean Digital Baroque and Mon Cirque installations that combine art, decoration, and contemporary design objects. 

Make it work: For a complicated design with multiple openings, you can opt to fill all holes, or just choose the one in the middle. In this case, the styling took the design to heart by further emphasizing the anthropometric shape. The suggestion of "hands" by way of palm leaves and a bouquet to suggest "hair." 

 

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Happy Susto by Jaime Hayon for BD Barcelona and gold bowl by J Schatz. | Photograph by Paul del Rosario

 

 

2. Go for painterly designs.

These vessels from Liliana Manahan are from her Ouga Bouga series, colored porcelain with designs of early cave paintings that depict hunts and victories. 

Make it work: The key is situating the vase in a location that would complement its design—in this case, in front of a striking red wall and among mixed media artworks. The textures play off the theme of the vessels.

 

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Ouga Bouga Vases inspired by cave paintings by Liliana Manahan. | Photograph by Jar Concengco

 

 

3. When in doubt, go for white.

This ceramic vase by artist Cheryl Villanueva-Hironaka, a Hanoi-based Filipina artist, can easily find its place in most settings, as its baroque feel can go from modern to classic interiors. Beside is Delft Blue #11 by Marcel Wanders, as part of his ceramic vase collection for Moooi. The vases are produced at Royal Delft, one of the last remaining Delft earthenware factories in the 17th century. 

Make it work: The vases are works of art—so you can also opt not to present them with flowers or ferns. Displaying them as sculptures instead.

 

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Ceramic vase by artist Cheryl Villanueva-Hironaka and Delft Blue #11 by Marcel Wanders for Moooi

 

 

4. Go out-of-the-box.

Sometimes, you can find designs that are so creative, they become statement pieces—that's how we feel about the Blow Away vase by Front Design for Moooi. A digitized design of a Royal Delft, then exposed to a gust of wind to create that blown-away effect, it's a marvel to look at from different angles.

Make it work: Pieces like this work best with flowers so you can achieve the full effect. In this case, a complicated and layered arrangement gives better composition and a fuller effect. 

 

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Blow Away vase by FRONT for Moooi. | Photograph by Paul del Rosario

 

* This article was previously published on Metro Home & Entertaining magazine