Tac Porcelain Flower Vase

The Tac vase is a minimal porcelain vase designed in 2010 as a commission for a restaurant where the tables were set like exhibits and the water arrived with implied judgment. Designing for a room where everything is quietly evaluated sharpens a studio considerably, and when the commission ended, the vase declined to. It has stayed in the catalog ever since, silver-glazed and unbothered. As an architectural flower vase it works through proportion rather than ornament: a clean vertical line, a narrow mouth, a stance that makes three stems look considered and a single stem look intentional. It suits the person who sets a proper table on an ordinary Tuesday for nobody in particular, which is the most defensible kind of showing off. Porcelain fires thin and rings when tapped, so the piece feels lighter than it photographs. Every one is finished by hand at the studio before it gets to wear the name.