Beautiful Flowers & How To Display Them; Damn Cool Vases Edit

So I’m guessing you know by now that I love flowers, right? Having fresh cut flowers diplayed around the home in beautiful vases makes such a impact on the interior. They introduce nature, colour, reduces stress, lift your mood and provide so much joy. With the thousands of varieties available to us, we can select flowers to create interesting displays entirely dependant on our mood and the occasion. Aren’t we lucky!

During lockdown I treated myself to a mixed bunch including these peonies and enormous hydrangea, from Myke Caulton Floral Couture. Displayed in my pale blue Gluggle Jug from Wade Ceramics.

For a strong, dramatic look I love pink anthuriums, bird of paradise, proteas and alliums, for a softer mood I’d choose roses, dahlias, peonies, ranunculus and anemones (hydrangeas and gerberas too!) Depending on the vibe I’m feeling, I think selecting flowers of one colour or variety look just as impactful as a decorative, mixed display.

For instance these orange roses and gerberas in the dark gold studded metallic vase, and then the bright, all pink roses hit the mark, maxing out on saturated colour and simplicity.

Copious amounts of flowers require the need for multiple vases and vessels to display them in. I have an obsession with vases and I’m always on the hunt for shapes, colours and textures that are a bit different, so here it is! Your next instalment of Damn Cool! 

I could have easily selected a hundred styles, but then it wouldn’t be an edit! So I kept this feature to nine of the coolest vases out there right now that really stand out to me. My personal favourite is the B-Fora Klein vase by Iammi Studio. Not only is the shape fantastic, but I’m all over the Yves Klein/cobalt blue, obvs!

The artist describes these vases as representing ‘both stylistic elements of furniture for the home and a tribute to the female world’. They are made in Italy and only 70 units have been produced, each one by hand, unique and numbered. It’s not just a vase but a unique piece of art, and this female form would definitely hold her own on a sideboard sans flowers, I absolutely love her attitude!

I’ve selected these nine vases on the features board based on a few factors: for the use of colour, their architectural shape, their size and their playfulness. I also think they work really well together in small groups, balancing shape and scale.

Now, there’s one very expensive one within the nine, which one do you think it is? Have a guess before you read down to the shopping list below! Obviously this price tag is not going to appeal to the masses (it’s certainly out of my price range!) but I think its good to take inspiration from luxury items and keep your eyes peeled for similar shapes and colours when browsing charity and thrift stores.

Second hand stores tend to stock so many coloured glass vases, they were so popular in the 50s, 60s and 70s, and its up to us to hunt them down! The images above show three of my recently thrifted vases; the blue, white with neon yellow stripes on the left, then the amber coloured vase (which was £1!) and the white stylised glass piece, shaped like a leaf. All from Pear Mill Vintage Emporium.

It’s interesting to me that depending on what type of flowers you place in the vessel, this will change the look of the vase itself too. Look how Melanie Lissack has created a dramatic floral display with bright, bold stocks in her Ferm Living Shell Pot to enhance the colours and shapes in her living room, vs the minimal Scandinavian styling I came across on Interior 3000 blog, using greenery and pared back objects.

Similarly, the South Beach Crystal Vase featured on my board has been styled by Amara in two different ways, both equally dramatic. The image on the left portrays a extravagant and moody Dutch Flowers feel. Reminiscent of oil paintings of a bygone era with its layers of delicate pastel petals set against an inky background. This is then contrasted by the image on the right which depicts an elegant, sculptural Ikebana style arrangement, which is as much about the spaces between the flowers and the mindfulness of their placement, as the flowers themselves. One vase, two aesthetics.

Vases and vessels can be very versatile depending on how you use them, the flowers you’ll fill them with and how you style them. Over time, I’ve procured a great collection, and I use ALL of my vases in rotation, or based on which I think will work best for the flowers I have.

The images below show two of my oldest vases that I bought just after graduating. They were from Camden Market and they have lasted so well, they still look as great today as when I bought them and they stand out no matter what the arrangement inside, including dried and faux. I often use a mixture of dried with fresh cut flowers. (Dried flowers is a whole other subject that I’m into, and I’ll be talking about that in an upcoming post!)

Vases are a great investment, especially if you love to see flowers all around the home, like me. I tend to look for vases with character, that will look just as good empty as they would containing a nature. Collections of vases look great grouped together on sideboards, dining tables, bedside tables, kitchen worktops, bookshelves …basically any surface! I store the ones that I’m not currently using in the space above the tops of my kitchen cupboards, not only to create a lovely arrangement but also to keep them safe from any unwanted knocks!

Cut dahlias from the garden looking fantastic here in a cut glass tumbler.

I’d love to hear how you like to display and style flowers in your home, and the vases and vessels that you love to exhibit them in. Let me know by commenting in the box below and in the meantime, here’s the shopping list!

Shopping List

Anaïa Contemporary Metal Vase  - La Redoute

Green Glass Vase - Large - Day Birger et Mickkelsen - Amara

Muse I-Scream Porcelain Vase - Johnathan Adler - Amara

Kink Vase - Muuto - Nest

South Beach Crystal Vase - Reflections Copenhagen - Amara - is this the pricey one?!

Large Blue Finish Glass Vase - La Redoute

Shell pot vase - Ferm Living - Nest

Tea Rose Vase - Pink - Day Birger & Mikkelsen - Amara

B-Fora Klein vase- iammi