Wall Brick Glass Modern Clear Flower Vase

A rectangular glass vessel that fixes flat to a wall rather than standing on anything. You reach for one when the surfaces are full, which in a galley kitchen or a corridor is a permanent condition. It also suits cuttings, because the flat face lets you follow root growth without lifting anything out. Renters use them as readily as owners. Two screws, no furniture.

Straight slim stems that do not need a wide throat. Ranunculus and snapdragon perform well, since the stalk keeps its own line and the head stays above the rim. Waxflower and scabiosa match the shallow depth nicely. One orchid spray reads beautifully against flat plaster. Skip heavy roses and anything top-weighted, which levers the piece forward. Slim beats showy.

Neither, strictly, because it does not stand up at all. Fixed to plaster it projects two from the surface and runs four across, the taller of the pair reaching a fraction under eight from base to rim while the shorter stops at six. Left on a sill it topples the first time a window opens. Give it a wall.

Clear soda-lime glass, blown rather than pressed, so thickness varies slightly across the face and the piece carries small distortions when you look through it on an angle. Those are not faults and we do not grade them out of a run. Pressed glass is uniform and reads that way. Handwork should look like handwork.

Between arrangements, lift it off the bracket and wash it properly, because the corners of a rectangular vessel trap residue that a curved one never would. A slim bottle brush reaches them. Where cuttings have been rooting, rinse using diluted white vinegar to shift the biofilm that always forms. Dry the outside before remounting. Damp brackets corrode.

In a row, at one height, evenly spaced. Three along a corridor achieve more than any single large vessel could, because repetition reads as intention rather than accident. Mixing the two sizes in one row destroys that, so keep the pairing for separate walls entirely. Partner them with ceramic wall pieces instead of further glass. Repeat, then contrast.

They share a material and very little else. The Brick fixes to plaster and carries cut stems in a shallow rectangle, whereas the Bulb Forcer stands on furniture and suspends one bulb above water for weeks on end. One is display; the other is a slow experiment you keep checking. Both suit people who enjoy watching roots. Wholly different timescales.

Because it is roughly the size and proportion of a house brick, and nobody in the studio could better that in 2010. The name stuck fast, which is what happens whenever a description turns out to be accurate. There was a brief internal campaign for something a good deal more elegant. It lost decisively.