Normally, when choosing vases to display flowers, we don’t think much about the design of these vessels. The flowers themselves are enough to add beauty to your space that where you place them is almost just an afterthought. You choose something based on color or maybe material but it’s just a means to display your current blooms. But what if the vase itself is able to add something else to the aesthetic of your space.
Designer:
Tomei is a concept for a dry flower vase that is named after the Japanese word for “transparent”. In Japanese aesthetics, transparency is often associated with purity, clarity, and a sense of ephemeral beauty. However, this subverts conventional understanding by introducing an element of obscurity. More than just being a transparent showcase for your flowers, it is actually something that both reveals and obscures as it uses acrylic as its main material. Specifically, the frosted acrylic allows the viewer a glimpse into the flowers inside, acting like a soft curtain to still add a bit of mystery, adding to the beauty of the display. It is able to blur the line “between what is hidden and what is seen”.
The vase has a rectangular form for its case with a silhouette of a vase shape inside it. This bent sheet metal is toasted between two layers of the frosted acrylic, creating an interplay that shows off the flower and metal but only in a partially visible manner. There are four different vase forms in the Tomei collection, including a round bulb silhouette and a tapered cylinder shape. These forms capture the classical form of the vase but reinterprets it into a more contemporary setting by encasing it in frosted acrylic.
Even though the vase is interestingly designed, it doesn’t really take away from the natural beauty of the flower that is displayed. What it does is complement it and highlight the mysterious aspect of the flowers by obscuring some parts of it, adding another element to something that is normally considered beautiful and refreshing. The Tomei vase transcends the conventional role of a flower container. It’s a study in visual perception and the interplay between light and form. The choice of frosted acrylic is deliberate, creating a diffused visual experience. Unlike clear glass, which offers complete transparency, frosted acrylic introduces a layer of ambiguity. This ambiguity is not a flaw but a deliberate design choice, inviting the viewer to engage more actively with the display. It encourages us to see beyond the surface, to appreciate the beauty of the hidden, and to find mystery in the everyday.
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