The Sample Vase: Color as Living Glass
Color has always felt alive to me in glass. Unlike paint, where pigment sits on a surface, color inside molten glass becomes part of the material itself — suspended in depth, carrying light, shadow, transparency, and reflection all at once. That relationship between color and light is at the center of the Sample Vase series.
The idea for these vessels began as an exploration of color theory in physical form. I wanted to create an object that felt simple and approachable, but still carried the spontaneity and energy of the hot glass process. Something functional, but also deeply visual. A vase that could act almost like a three-dimensional sketchbook for color.
Exploring Color Theory in a Functional Object
Each Sample Vase begins as a hand-blown clear glass form in the Esque Studio hot shop. While the glass is still molten, large fragments of intensely colored glass are applied to the surface. The heat partially melts these pieces into the vessel, allowing them to soften, stretch, and distort organically as the form continues to expand.
What I love about this process is that there’s always an element of unpredictability. The colors move differently every time. Gravity shifts them. Heat pulls them into new shapes. The transparency of the clear glass magnifies and distorts the composition from different angles, almost like looking through water or through a lens.
The finished pieces feel somewhere between sculpture and painting — graphic from one perspective, fluid from another.
Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Palettes
The series is organized into three palettes inspired by the traditional color wheel: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary. I’ve always been interested in how certain combinations of color create emotional tension while others create calm. These vessels become small studies in contrast, balance, saturation, and visual rhythm. Some combinations feel playful and energetic, others soft and atmospheric.
Even though the forms themselves are minimal, the color creates an enormous amount of presence.
How to Use Sample Vase in the Home
I think Sample Vase works best when used simply. A single stem, branch, or cutting is enough. The scale encourages restraint, allowing both the flower and the vessel to breathe. I often place them in groups where the colors can interact with one another across a table or shelf, almost like arranging pigments on a painter’s palette.
They also work beautifully in unexpected places — bedside tables, powder rooms, shelving niches, kitchen windowsills — small moments within a home where color and light can quietly transform the atmosphere.
Handblown, One-of-a-Kind Color Studies
Because every vase is made entirely by hand, no two are identical. Each one becomes its own individual composition — a unique “sample” of movement, color, and process captured permanently in glass.
That individuality is important to me. I never want these objects to feel overly perfect or industrial. I want them to carry evidence of touch, heat, timing, and experimentation. The vitality of the material is the thing that makes glass so compelling to work with. Even after it cools, it still feels alive.