When elements of nature come together, the role of a designer is to become the spectator instead of the author; he or she no longer has control of the process, but the idea and power to transform the incidents and accidents that occur along the way into a product of growth. Martín Azúa, perhaps with that idealism, understands this very well with his Vase Stone design.

Using physics as an element to deform the clay mold, the Barcelona-based designer place a stone around the peripheral of each vase’s mouth. The minimal bend and indentation then creates something strange, yet whimsical. Vases with new forms then become something more than just regular objects: sculptures with a complexity in form. That new figure is a result of nature affecting nature, rather than something that the designer superimposed onto the process of producing. To me, there’s something so modest and respectable about that.

As a collaboration between Martín Azúa and Marc Vidal, the series of Vase Stone blends the rugged beauty of nature into a minimal manmade product. The result is both unique and impeccable.