The Handle Unearthed Vase looks like something dug up.

That's deliberate. I wanted it to feel less like an object you bought and more like one you inherited — the kind of vessel that people actually used, generations ago, before things were made to be looked at rather than lived with.

Why make something that looks old

Because old objects carry weight, and new ones usually don't.

An antique vase on a shelf makes a room feel settled — as though the house has been there a while, and you along with it. Most of us can't fill our homes with genuine antiques. But we can choose objects made the way antiques were: by hand, one at a time, meant to be used.

That's what this piece is reaching for. Not a reproduction. A vessel made with the same intentions.

Made in your finish

Like almost everything in the studio, this vase is made after you order it — in the finish you choose, from 18 neutral, quiet finishes.

Nothing sits on a shelf waiting to be bought. Your order is what brings your piece into existence, which is also why it takes weeks rather than days.

What it's for

Branches, mostly. It's a vase that wants something sculptural rather than something pretty — a few bare stems in winter, dried grasses, one dramatic bloom.

It's also perfectly good empty. Some vessels are.

The making of it

North Carolina clay, wedged by hand. Shaped, handled, and detailed before the clay is too dry to take an impression. Then a slow dry, a bisque firing, glaze applied by hand, and a final firing that turns minerals into glass.

If you'd like the full account of how a piece gets made — and why it takes as long as it does — I wrote it all out here: What Happens After You Place a Handmade-to-Order Ceramic Order.

See it

The Handle Unearthed Vase is in the studio now.

Or browse the rest of the vessels and vases — there are quite a few, and they're all made the same way.