Object of Desire: Hand-Sculpted Vases and Planters With a Dose of (Pretty) Savagery

I’ve been on the hunt for artful vases all summer—and I think I may have just found the perfect ones. When I spotted the work of artist Danya Ahmed, of Gray Gardens Plant Studio, I was immediately captivated and needed to learn more. Originally from the US, Danya relocated to her ancestral homeland of Lebanon, where she now handcrafts stunning sculptural vases, planters, and bowls that embrace raw and brutalist elements.

Have a look with me.

Photography courtesy of Gray Gardens Plant Studio.

While you might think these pieces are ceramic, they are, in fact, made from glass fiber reinforced concrete. This material allows for the added height and width, plus the weight of the material helps anchor taller and more unwieldy arrangements (think: branches).

Danya approaches concrete much like one would with clay, forming and sculpting it by hand. “Combining the strength of the material, with the sensitivity of the hand, each piece is imbued with its own energy. The vases are a great example of this strength and sensitivity. They have the hand-formed, tactile marks of the maker and their softness is balanced by their weighted down, brute strength,” she says.

When Danya finally started Gray Gardens, she focused on potted plants. “I was making the planters and also planting in them, the pot and the plant were one entity. Creating the planters, playing with the material, texture, shape, proportion and color, as they all combined in relation to the plant was quite exciting for me. It was fun to create for, and respond to, a living thing—something already in existence and natural. Essentially combining my two favorite things, nature and plants, with hand-crafted sculpture; playing with the form of the tree in relation to the planter and vice versa.”

The color palette used in all the work is ten years in the making. After much experimenting and trying out new colors and putting them in context with plants, she still continues to explore. “I introduce new colors seasonally,” she says. “And these stay in production for shorter periods of time, as something fun to play with.”

You can find Danya’s wares online at www.graygardens.co/shop.

See also:

• Studio Visit: G. Wolff Pottery, in a Converted Barn in CT
• Melissa Goldstein’s Hand-Painted Ceramics, Inspired by Her Brooklyn Garden
• Object of Desire: A Minimalist Ceramic Birdhouse by Lisa Viscardi