Vase Obsession

I love beautiful objects, just not too many.  As you know, I am obsessed with vases.  My favorite is ceramic, but I also love glass.  I love their simple forms and their tactile nature.  Loving simple living, and loving collecting vases is a delicate balance.  I panic when I think I have too much stuff.  Yet, I love to hunt for gems at the Goodwill.  My rule is one (or more) vases must be donated before bringing something new home.  Here are a few new vases I bought on the cheap from Goodwill.

I am in love with the simplicity of these beauties!  I am especially in love with the white one.  It reminds me of the concrete bowls I have been craving (see post below).  It has just the right amount of organic edge and I love the pop of silver.  These vases were both made in Vietnam and I got them for the incredible price of $3.00 each!  Just think, if it hadn't been for the lift on the trade embargo, we never would have experienced Vietnamese pottery (see previous post here).  President Obama recently made a historic journey to Southern Asia, including a stop in Burma, where he met feminist icon Aung San Suu Ki.  Perhaps there will no longer be a need for economic sanctions against Burma and we will be able to experience the beauty of their ceramic traditions.  Hope so!  Sorry, I digress.

I think of pottery as sculpture, and started experimenting with placing vases on top of each other.  Something I haven't done before.

The Influence

I think it would be cool to make a table or lamp out of vases.  For more cool sculptures, or assemblages as she calls them, see Hilda's work at art design kitsch.

So I piled vases on top of each other.  With a piece of glass on top it might make a cool table in an industrial/urban setting.  But it looks too much like a missile for my taste, so I disassembled it (like we should all missles, oops there I go again).

Here are some vases piled in my kitchen.  I kinda like them.  Not sure why, but I love orange and gray together.

Here is another new vessel.  Not sure if it used to be a light, but it is made of glass and is the most amazing color.  I got this one for only $1.00!

Here it is on my end table.  I love a pop of yellow! During the day it catches the sun in the most intriguing way.

The vase in the middle is new and was also $1.00!  I needed a piece with some height and I adore its matte finish. Simple vases with matte finishes are hard to find.  Periwinkle is another of my favorite colors.  I am amazed how much color I am using in my apartment!  So there you have it.  I spent my day doing one of my favorite things:  arranging pottery.  And it only cost me $8.00!  I really should own a pottery store and/or take a pottery class.