Black Granite Riven-Top Stem Vase with Brass Bores, 9in

A block with a broken top

Four sides of this 9-inch block are worked smooth and honed. The top is left exactly as the stone split — rough, crystalline, irregular — and through that broken face run seven bores of differing sizes, each lined with a polished brass collar. Empty, it is a dark block with a scatter of gold. With a single stem in two or three of the bores it becomes an arrangement, and the empty bores stay part of the composition rather than looking unfinished.

Why one stem at a time

A conventional vase asks you to fill it. This one only takes single stems, which forces the restraint that makes the arrangement work — three stems at different heights against a dark block reads deliberate in a way a full bunch does not. The brass collars are functional as well as visual: they give the stem a clean bearing surface and stop water sitting against raw stone. Brass is used here as a fitting, at a small fraction of the piece; the object is granite.

Where it sits

A dining table, a kitchen island, a desk, a bathroom shelf. Black granite is dense and unbothered by water, so it handles a wet environment better than marble would, and it is heavy enough at this size not to be knocked over by a tall stem.

Making yours

Block proportions, bore count and collar metal are all open, and a longer low version works well down the centre of a dining table. It is cut for you by the master sculptors we work with in Jaipur, who split the top face rather than texturing it, so no two are quite alike. Allow four to eight weeks.