The Chive Studio astronaut vase is a ceramic vase shaped as an astronaut figure, glazed in high gloss white, designed to hold cut flowers or sit alone on a shelf with the quiet authority of something that knows it is the most interesting object in the room. Three versions exist: Yuri the original astronaut, Laika the space dog, and Félicette the space cat — named after the first dog and first cat ever sent to space. All three are designed in Toronto and made by hand. All three are stocked in the gift shops of the Getty Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, SFMOMA, and the New York Botanical Garden.
This week, four humans flew past the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. The Artemis II crew completed their lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, traveling farther from Earth than any humans in recorded history. The collective response was approximately what you would expect from a species that is moved by distance: photographs, news alerts, and a renewed awareness that space is very large and our relationship with it is ongoing. Chive's astronaut vase has had no comment. It has been on the wall since 1999 and considers its position on this matter well established.
Laika was a stray dog from the streets of Moscow who became the first animal to orbit Earth in 1957. Félicette was a stray cat from the streets of Paris who became the first and only cat to travel to space in 1963. Both were made into a ceramic vase by a Toronto studio because that is how Chive processes things of significance.
Why does Chive make ceramic vases named after space animals? Because we heard the real stories once and did not know what else to do with them. Laika, Yuri, and Félicette exist as ceramic vases because the studio is the kind of operation that processes things of significance by making an object. The vases hold flowers. They are in the Getty Museum. We consider this the correct response.
The Ceramic Astronaut Vase That Started With an Eclipse and Ended With Laika
This is how Yuri got company. It was about eight years ago. The six of us were working in New York when the first full solar eclipse visible from the city in decades happened directly overhead in the middle of a Tuesday. We did what any reasonable group of ceramic designers would do, which was immediately abandon whatever we were doing, tape a sign to the booth that said "Chive is closed till 1:15, went outside to look at something f***ing cool," go outside with the overpriced paper glasses everyone had bought in anticipation of exactly this moment, and stand on a sidewalk in Manhattan looking up at the sun disappearing behind the moon like the geeks we have always been and will continue to be.
We already had Yuri by this point. Yuri exists because we are the kind of studio that names things after cosmonauts and considers this a complete explanation. Standing outside watching the eclipse, someone said: did you know they sent animals to space before they sent people? And then: which animals? And then: a dog? And then: what was the dog's name? Laika. Her name was Laika.
Laika the Space Dog: Why a Toronto Ceramic Studio Made Her a Vase
The Russians have never been entirely famous for their ideas and if you go back seventy years it gets a little dodgy, which is the diplomatic way of describing a programme that looked at the problem of orbital test subjects and landed on street dogs. Laika was a Moscow stray launched into orbit in November 1957 with no plan to bring her back, a detail they disclosed gradually and with declining enthusiasm over the following decades. She orbited Earth. She did not return. A scientist confirmed the real cause of her death at a space medicine conference in Houston in 2002, forty-five years after the fact. We heard the story and made a vase because we did not know what else to do with it. She is holding flowers in it. We think she would have preferred the flowers.
Félicette's situation was somewhat different. She was a stray cat living in Paris in 1963 when the French space programme decided that what the space race needed was a cat. She was the first and only cat ever sent to space. She trained. She launched. She returned safely, which Laika did not, and this distinction matters and has been noted. She was then largely written out of history by the country that sent her for roughly fifty years, which France handled by doing essentially nothing about it until a Kickstarter funded a memorial statue in 2019. We made her a ceramic vase before the Kickstarter existed. We are not making a point. The point is simply there.
We heard the story and made a vase because we did not know what else to do with it. She is holding flowers in it. We think she would have preferred the flowers. — Chive Studio, on Laika
The original astronaut vase — the one simply called Yuri — has been in the range long enough that it predates several of the cultural moments now attached to it. The astronaut aesthetic has cycled through home decor trend cycles at least twice since Chive introduced it. Elon has gone somewhat out of trend lately, which means the field is open and Yuri is frankly killing it. We have watched this from the position of a company that made the thing before the trend, which is the position Chive is accustomed to occupying and has found does not require comment.
The Space Themed Bar That Ordered 100 Astronaut Vases a Month Until It Closed
Offworld Bar was a space-themed cocktail bar at 739 Queen Street West in Toronto. Second floor. Holograms of astronaut helmets on the ceiling. Drinks served with straws coming out of miniature space backpacks. The kind of place where the vibe is doing serious structural work that the cocktail prices alone cannot carry, and it worked, and you did not question it. They found the Laika ceramic vase and the Félicette ceramic vase and started ordering approximately a hundred of them a month. The reason, as it was explained to us, is that guests kept stealing them. Someone would receive a drink in a ceramic astronaut with a straw coming out of the backpack and make a decision. We would make the same decision. We have thought about this and are not prepared to say we would not steal it. Offworld has now done its last orbit. The vase remains.
Chive Studio is at 702 Queen Street West, which is two doors down, and we mention this only because the proximity is either a coincidence or evidence of something and we have never decided which.
Three ceramic astronaut vases. One explanation.
- Yuri — the original. Named after Gagarin. In the range before the astronaut aesthetic had a name. Frankly killing it now that Elon has gone out of trend.
- Laika — a Moscow stray who orbited Earth in 1957 and did not come back. We heard the real story once and started making the vase and have not entirely stopped thinking about it since.
- Félicette — the first and only cat ever sent to space. France forgot about her for fifty years. We made her a vase before the Kickstarter memorial statue existed. We are not making a point.
What the Artemis II Lunar Flyby Has to Do With a Ceramic Vase From Toronto
We were asked whether we were planning something special for Artemis. A new vase. A limited edition. A colourway. We thought about it. The conversation lasted about as long as the eclipse conversation in New York, which is to say it ended quickly and conclusively. Yuri, Laika, and Félicette are the correct three. Adding a fourth because NASA had a good week felt like exactly the kind of decision that produces objects nobody steals. The vases have been on the wall since before the Artemis programme had a name. They will be on the wall after the news cycle moves on. This is what handmade ceramic objects do. They stay.
Chive Studio has been designing and handmaking ceramic vases, plant pots, and ceramic wall flowers in Toronto, Canada, since 1999 — always original, often copied. The astronaut vase collection is stocked in the gift shops of the Getty Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, SFMOMA, the Royal Ontario Museum, the New York Botanical Garden, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Andy Warhol Museum, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Longwood Gardens, the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, and more than 200 art galleries, botanical gardens, aquariums, and museum shops across North America, the UK, and Europe.
Chive has exhibited at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for thirteen consecutive years, receiving the 5-star booth award — the highest rating given. Featured by Oprah's O List, French Vogue, Dwell, GQ, and Martha Stewart. Design studios in Toronto, Los Angeles, and London. Wholesale showrooms in Atlanta and Las Vegas. Warehouses in Toronto, Rotterdam, New York, and Birmingham. Ships to over 40 countries. Designed in Toronto, made by hand.
