The essentials: 20 of the best vases

Forerunner of Art Nouveau and inventor of the inlaid glass technique, Émile Gallé brings botany into the world of glass art, working on precious unique pieces as well as starting a vast mass production.

Architectural glass: Hoffman's extensive production modernizes Viennese craftsmanship and establishes itself as a new parameter for the decorative arts.

In this vase designed by Gio Ponti, the reinterpretation of the classicist tradition finds a translation of his architectural sensibility for the perspective effect of the cells, but also the sign of a fascination for a material whose applications will not be limited to the field of Richard Ginori's creative direction, but will also explore multiple research in the field of interior design.

This is perhaps the most emblematic example of the collaboration between Bianconi and Venetian company Venini. Fazzoletto is one of the first vases to break away from the archetypal shape of the vase, taking inspiration not so much from the object that gives it the name, but from the movement created by the wind on the skirts of the women in Murano.

Rocchetto is one of the first and most famous results of Sottsass's vast production in the field of ceramics, as well as one of the most representative examples of the ten-year collaboration between the designer and Bitossi. It immortalizes Sottsass's obsession with the archetypal form, and can be considered as a forerunner of that geometric obsession that will characterize the radical period and lead to the creation of new suggestions of the imagination.

Enzo Mari paved the way for the use of plastic in the production of vases, demolishing the presupposition of preciousness of this category of objects and experimenting with the aesthetic qualities of ABS on a double conical shape that allows the vase to be turned upside down and used on both sides.

Among the icons of the first Droog production, Soft Urn experiments with the use of polyurethane on an ancestral shape, exploring a new tactile relationship with the user - due both to the softness of the vase and its rough and irregular texture - and leaving all traces of the production process visible.

Among the first projects of Wanders, Sponge shows the interest in experimental craftsmanship – also known as “low tech” craftmanship – that is typical of the projects of Droog Design, with which this vase was initially launched in collaboration with Rosenthal. The vase, modelled on the shape of a sponge, is obtained by dipping a natural sponge in liquid porcelain clay. After drying, the porcelain is cured in an oven: the sponge burns away, without affecting the shape of its porcelain copy.

Selected for the Compasso d'Oro in 2005, Triplo is an elegant synthesis of simplicity and creativity. The vase combines three mouth-blown tubes joined with two rubber rings. The shape of the vase recalls the Venetian briccole that line the canals of Venice.

Honeycomb marks the entrance of multispecism in the production of vases. The vase takes shape through an active contribution of 40,000 bees that build it by working on a vase-shaped beehive scaffold put by the designer in a hive.

Here, the archetypal shape of a Ming vase is distorted by the effects of a digital deformation simulating an acceleration. It is an unexpected example of shape variation, but also a reflection on the creative potential of a software in the design of common objects.

Botanica, which brought huge success to the duo composed by Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, is a speculative project that experiments with the use of natural polymers used before the Oil Age.

Designed to be handmade in Mumbai's most disadvantaged neighborhood so that it can help local women's communities make a living, Pepe Heykoop's flat pack vase shows not only its social value, but also its cunning nature. While maintaining the appearance of a vase, Paper Vase is actually a low-cost bottle cover that can be endlessly reinterpreted through new decorative motifs.

The unexpected combination of glass and marble gives life to a series of sculptural vases in which the two materials seem to blend together and become one.

This is not only a vase that conceals its real shape, but also a work of art that involves its owner: Introverso 2 takes shape through the hammer blows of its owner, who is asked to shape the marble parallelepiped like a Renaissance sculptor.

A vase designed to stimulate the sense of smell, inspired by the objects and practices of the perfumery art: Olfattorio consists of a cylindrical base with a filigree treatment and a transparent bubble on which you can put your nose and smell the concentrated scent of the flower.

Aluminium extrusions of different heights hide behind their geometric rigour the shape of a cloud - a shape with which the French brothers had already experienced in other different furniture projects.

A mix of figurative immediacy and irony, these vases are inspired by the shape of three Mediterranean fish: a sea bream, an anchovy and a kingfish. Their open mouth is where you can put the flowers. Produced by the art ceramic atelier Giuseppe Mazzotti.

A pot that transforms and grows with the plant, expanding up to four times its original shape thanks to its origami-based geometry.

Conceived by Japanese designer Oki Sato and presented in an installation at the 2017 Salone del Mobile, this series of thirty ultra-thin silicone vases seem to float under the effect of water, transforming the unexpected movement into a moment of wonder and amazement.