Snowflake Vase

Six-fold symmetry is the whole logic of a snowflake, and it transfers unexpectedly well to a vessel. Arms and facets repeat around a central axis so that the profile shifts as you walk past it, giving a vase that reads as crystalline rather than smooth and catches edges of light all the way down its length. It is a single-file model, which makes it a straightforward place to begin if decorative printing is new to you. Winter is the obvious cue, and it will earn its keep on a December mantelpiece among greenery and dried stems. The geometry is abstract enough to stay out all year, though, without ever looking stranded out of season. Put a few tall stems in it and it behaves as an ordinary modern vase that happens to have an unusually interesting outline.