Vases

This May, the Prague International Design Festival in collaboration with Artium by KKCG launched a curatorial project titled Vases, presenting the works of leading Czech designers. This concept shows a vase not as a mere utilitarian thing, but rather as an autonomous object oscillating between design, free art, and architecture. The second piece exhibited within the project is an original and distinctive crystalline vase Volume 5 by Milan Pekař, a ceramics and porcelain designer.

Milan Pekař explores the themes of volume, mass, and physical presence of an object in space. His collection of vases Volume builds on a simple yet fundamental premise: a vase is not perceived merely visually, but also through the prism of its proportions, weight, and the space it occupies. The smallest vase (Volume 1) fits nicely in palm of your hand, while the largest one (Volume 5) can be held in embrace, its proportions relating to the human body.

The Volume 5 vase is slip-casted from pink porcelain, finished with a white crystalline glaze. A fine nickel admixture creates subtle crystalline effects in light blue at the bottom. Experimenting with ceramic materials and production techniques as well as distinctive use of crystalline glaze are signature traits of Pekař’s creative work. His objects oscillate between precise craftsmanship, material experiment, and sculptural approach to the form.

Milan Pekař together with fellow artist Tereza Sluková won the Grand Prix at DesignBlok Awards 2025. The artistic duo is represented by prestigious foreign galleries and has attracted attention both at home and abroad in the context of contemporary collectible design. For this year’s Křehký Mikulov festival, they created original objects on the theme of Garden. Together, they also head the ceramics and porcelain studio at UMPRUM Prague, where they shape the emerging generation of Czech designers.

The project opens with a vase from the Burned Landscape collection by DECHEM studio, founded in 2012 by Michaela Tomišková and Jakub Janďourek. Their work is rooted in a deep understanding of the Czech glassmaking tradition and the continuity of its technological and formal principles, which they systematically reinterpret within contemporary design. A defining aspect of their practice is the close connection between design and production—they work with traditional hand-blown glass techniques not merely as a reference, but as an active creative tool.

The Bandaska vase, first presented at Designblok in 2014, emerged from the designers’ desire to engage with the archetypal form of the traditional milk can. It immediately attracted attention and has since become one of the studio’s most successful products. The designers have continued to develop the object, particularly through color variations, and have produced several limited editions over the years. The latest addition is the Burned Landscape vase, introduced last autumn. What began as an experimental drawing with molten glass on paper evolved into a three-dimensional interpretation, transforming the now-iconic Bandaska into a more expressive form. Each piece in this edition is unique, carrying its own “landscape,” described by the designers as a panoramic trace of fire, air, and human gesture.

The method of installation also plays a key role in the Vases project. The floral compositions are not created by florists but, for example, by jeweler Zdeněk Vacek, who approaches them from a distinct disciplinary perspective. He perceives the flower as a jewel adorning the vase—an ephemeral yet meaning-bearing layer. He has long explored this medium alongside his authorial jewelry practice. Under his own brand, he creates objects on the boundary between jewelry and artifact, combining organic materials with metal while developing both a distinctive creative language and refined craftsmanship. Last year, Zdeněk Vacek celebrated twenty-five years of his work with the exhibition DARK’n’LUSH at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, where he presented his shift from jewelry toward free objects and site-specific installations.