DESIGN STORY: Sunflowers Are Fine

This mouth-blown Opalino glass vase from 1932 was made using the 15th-century opaline technique. They were designed by Paolo Venini, the founder of famous Murano glass company Venini & C. They are available through Yoox. They are shown against the backdrop of Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

DESIGN STORY: Sunflowers Are Fine

This mouth-blown Opalino glass vase from 1932 was made using the 15th-century opaline technique. They were designed by Paolo Venini, the founder of famous Murano glass company Venini & C. They are available through Yoox. They are shown against the backdrop of Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

DESIGN STORY: Sunflowers Are Fine

This pink ceramic vase was designed in 1950 by Giovanni Gariboldi for Richard Ginori. It is available through InCollect. It is shown here against the backdrop of Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

DESIGN STORY: Sunflowers Are Fine

The Labisse Vase (2019) by Valentina Cameranesi Sgroi is handmade by artisans in Italy’s Veneto region using glazed ceramic. It is available through Adorno. Shown here with Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

DESIGN STORY: Sunflowers Are Fine

The Juice Vase was designed in 2019 by Kristine Five Melvær for HAY. The striped glass vase is also available in yellow. Shown here with Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

DESIGN STORY: Sunflowers Are Fine

The Périmètre Vase (2019) by Hermès is a high vase made from delicate Limoges porcelain. It shown here with Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

DESIGN STORY: Sunflowers Are Fine

Vasum (2017) is a handmade porcelain vase designed by Maria Gabriella Zecca for Tacchini. It is shown here with Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

DESIGN STORY: Sunflowers Are Fine

The yellow and green vase fringes from Jonathan Anderson’s Spring Summer 2020 home collection for LOEWE consists of a simple glass vase covered by a decorative calf leather fringe. It is shown here with Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

DESIGN STORY: Sunflowers Are Fine

Formafantasma’s clay made-to-order Vase with Torn Edges (2018) is a design for Bitossi Ceramiche. It is shown here against the backdrop of Modo, a panama weave in pure virgin wool by Dedar. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

DESIGN STORY: Sunflowers Are Fine

Nicholai Wiig Hansen designed the Strøm Vase (2019) for the Danish company Raawii. It is handmade in Portugal using earthenware. The vase is available through Yoox. Shown here with Modo, a panama weave in pure virgin wool by Dedar. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

DESIGN STORY: Sunflowers Are Fine

Philippe Malouin’s Kuru Vase (2019) for Iittala is made from mouth-blown frosted moss green glass. The backdrop is Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

DESIGN STORY: Sunflowers Are Fine

Sunflowers look better in the voluptuous, carved marble
Celia Vase (2000) designed by Valentina Cameranesi
Sgroi and available through Bloc Studios. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

DESIGN STORY: Sunflowers Are Fine

By Pim Top

This mouth-blown Opalino glass vase from 1932 was made using the 15th-century opaline technique. They were designed by Paolo Venini, the founder of famous Murano glass company Venini & C. They are available through Yoox. They are shown against the backdrop of Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

Photography by Pim Top, Art Direction by Cameranesi Pompili.

Text by Micaela Durand

Sunflowers are fine. On a good day I might even describe them as serene. Not that exciting though. Not like poppies which release poison from their stems. Not like hemlock which kills you. I probably should’ve Googled what cool thing sunflowers do, but didn’t. Instead I asked friends. One person called them “emojiable,” then asked if that was a word. I asked someone else if they conjured anything in her at all, she said that in a field of them, 6 feet tall, she would not be indifferent. Someone else, who’s actually named after a flower, told me her friend once asked Agnès Varda about the meaning of sunflowers in her films. Agnès said, “Sunflowers are just sunflowers.” People buy flowers as if it might save them, like from the natural chaos of things, as if it’s an inevitability. A friend, when getting flowers would go, “Great, now I will have to watch these things die.” And then she died. Her name was Jade. Like sunflowers, a jade stone represents vague happy things. There was nothing vague or happy about Jade, which I liked. Unlike sunflowers, she exposed herself to darkness. I think of her and think of flowers that have wilted. How she saw beauty in trees with no leaves. On Urban Dictionary a sunflower is “A beautiful young girl who is also a bitch at times.” Also a fist opening up in a vagina. He sunflowered her. I remember sunflowers in The Wizard of Oz. They lined the path towards the yellow-brick road. At the end you were meant to reach happiness. I listened to an outtake of Judy Garland singing “Over the Rainbow” once. In it she suddenly bursts into tears and does not stop crying. She must have found it depressing, knowing that the search is not about finding, but losing. How far and how much and how lonely. And I imagine the flowers said something, or one of them did. Though I know, they can’t. Still, there are times when I almost get the feeling they might.

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This mouth-blown Opalino glass vase from 1932 was made using the 15th-century opaline technique. They were designed by Paolo Venini, the founder of famous Murano glass company Venini & C. They are available through Yoox. They are shown against the backdrop of Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

This pink ceramic vase was designed in 1950 by Giovanni Gariboldi for Richard Ginori. It is available through InCollect. It is shown here against the backdrop of Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

The Labisse Vase (2019) by Valentina Cameranesi Sgroi is handmade by artisans in Italy’s Veneto region using glazed ceramic. It is available through Adorno. Shown here with Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

The Juice Vase was designed in 2019 by Kristine Five Melvær for HAY. The striped glass vase is also available in yellow. Shown here with Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

The Périmètre Vase (2019) by Hermès is a high vase made from delicate Limoges porcelain. It shown here with Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

Vasum (2017) is a handmade porcelain vase designed by Maria Gabriella Zecca for Tacchini. It is shown here with Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

Formafantasma’s clay made-to-order Vase with Torn Edges (2018) is a design for Bitossi Ceramiche. It is shown here against the backdrop of Modo, a panama weave in pure virgin wool by Dedar. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

The yellow and green vase fringes from Jonathan Anderson’s Spring Summer 2020 home collection for LOEWE consists of a simple glass vase covered by a decorative calf leather fringe. It is shown here with Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

Nicholai Wiig Hansen designed the Strøm Vase (2019) for the Danish company Raawii. It is handmade in Portugal using earthenware. The vase is available through Yoox. Shown here with Modo, a panama weave in pure virgin wool by Dedar. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

Philippe Malouin’s Kuru Vase (2019) for Iittala is made from mouth-blown frosted moss green glass. The backdrop is Vidar 3 by Raf Simons and Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

Sunflowers look better in the voluptuous, carved marble
Celia Vase (2000) designed by Valentina Cameranesi
Sgroi and available through Bloc Studios. Art direction by Cameranesi Pompili. Photography by Pim Top.

Micaela Durand is a filmmaker and writer who lives in New York.

Art Direction by Cameranesi Pompili.

Photography by Pim Top. Special thanks to Mauro Simionato.

Taken from PIN-UP 28, Spring Summer 2020.