I bought this Vase in, I believe, December 2018, at the Japanese Christmas Market.

The market was held at Malzfabrik, which is located “behind” (sort-of) the Schöneberg IKEA. I went to the market with my two Italian friends – where, generally speaking, we had fun.

There were two negative things about the market: first, it was crowded – like these things always are – which made it difficult to get around and for me to not want to leave immediately. Second, related directly to the first point, is that some horrible mother kept ramming into the back of my legs with her stroller because she wanted me to move faster – as if I could magically make everybody in front of me vanish – so that she could pick her kid up from somewhere deeper in the Christmas Market.

While I can remember looking at a lot of things – and I think I bought a few things – this vase is the only object that stands out. It was for sale in the main room and I almost did not buy it. We were making our way to the exit when I stopped to look at the pottery for sale – I really liked all of the pottery, but I think that I could only justify buying one object, something affordable. This met my criteria, although I no longer know how much I paid.

There’s a signature on the bottom – I tried to make it out: Cirze or Crize? Neither really comes up with anything useful on Google.

I’ve never used it for anything but decorative purposes: its subtle design is really pretty to look at.

It sits on the table with all my whisk(e)ys, so I see it fairly often.

During the Covid-19 crisis, I am going to try and make a point of writing a blog post about an object in my home.

We’ll see how long this lasts.