Pooley Bud Vase

The Pooley solves the problem most bud vases only manage: what to do when you have five good stems and no interest in a formal arrangement. Each glass tube holds one flower at its own height, the ceramic base staggers them automatically, and the composition happens by placement rather than technique. Rectangular Pooleys run a line down a table; the Pooley Round keeps a lower profile for shorter garden cuts. Every base is shaped by hand at the studio, which is why no two carry their glaze quite the same way.

The second job is the one the design fell into. The same individual tubes that isolate flowers also isolate cuttings — pothos, philodendron, mint — each with its own clean water supply, roots visible through the glass the whole way down. A communal propagation jar breeds tangles; the Pooley breeds plants. It is the rare object that works as a vase in May and a nursery in November, and both the Getty Museum and SFMOMA carry it, which suggests the museums noticed the same thing.