Pair of Organic Driftwood and Blown Glass Vases, French circa 1980

A pair of decorative vases of striking organic presence, each composed of a gnarled and knotted driftwood root mounted on a square wooden plinth and surmounted by a hand-blown glass globe of pale aqua-green. The marriage of raw natural wood and translucent blown glass is the animating principle of the design: the rough, fissured surface of the root — its channels, hollows, and irregular silhouette shaped by years of natural weathering — acts as a foil to the smooth luminosity of the glass, which rests in or emerges from the wood like a found treasure, as though nature itself had placed it there.

The glass vessels, each of an irregular globular form typical of free-blown technique, display the characteristic slight asymmetries and surface breath-marks of hand craftsmanship. Their pale seafoam colour — reminiscent of sea-glass washed smooth by tide and time — complements the warm amber-brown of the weathered wood with a studied chromatic restraint. The small metal feet raising each plinth add a discreet finishing touch without interrupting the organic mood of the ensemble.

At 51 centimetres tall, each vase has the commanding verticality of a sculptural object as much as a functional one, and the pair, displayed together, creates a tableau of balanced asymmetry — no two pieces of driftwood being identical, each vase possesses a subtly different character. Such compositions in natural wood and art glass were particularly favoured by French interior decorators of the late 1970s and early 1980s, who prized the combination of organic material with artisanal glass for its evocation of both the natural world and skilled human making.

French craftwork, circa 1980. Sold as a pair.