THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. * * * * Saturday/Sunday, March 4 - 5, 2017 | D9

is shaped like a hand in the “halt!”position, so the result looks like anoutrageous feather-tipped fan or afuzzy caterpillar relaxing in the sun.

I occasionally fill my tulipierewith actual tulips—I like the wayit orchestrates them into sculpturalbouquets as their petals open andstems bend. More often, I use it for

whatever my garden offers, fancy-ing myself clever for not being soliteral. But as it turns out, I am nothalf as creative as I think.

Pre-eminent Amsterdam-basedDelft pottery dealer Robert Aronsonexplained that “tulipiere” is a mis-nomer. “Seventeenth-century Delftmanufacturers,” he said, “made all

IN EARLY JUNE, I cut fuchsia, slip-per-pink, and dove-white peoniesfrom my bushes and stuff twostems apiece in each of the fivefingers of my tulipiere, a style ofvase with multiple openings. Mine

BY MIEKE TEN HAVE

TOWERING ACHIEVEMENTA 17th-century Delft tulipiere holds

blooms aloft in a room byBelgian designer Axel Vervoordt.

Tulip Tower, about $953,corienidderikhoff.com

DESIGN & DECORATING

AVase byAnyOtherNameThough known as a tulipiere, it turns any flowers—not just tulips—into artfully structured bouquets

kinds of flower pots for Britain’sQueen Mary II, known for refillingher palace vases three times a weekwith freshly cut flowers.” Delft-makers’ desire to curry royal favorled to innovation, including vaseswith multiple spouts. But they“were intended for all kinds of cutflowers, not just tulips,” said Mr.Aronson. In the 19th century, a fas-cination with Europeans’ financialspeculation in bulbs back in the1630s conflated tulip mania and themany-necked vessel, he explained.

New York interior designer anddecorative-arts historian ThomasJayne believes 17th-century tulip-ieres also served a practical pur-pose. “Before the hybridization offlowers, most stems were not stiffenough to hold themselves upright;tulipieres supported them and al-lowed for otherwise impossible ar-chitectural arrangements,” he said.That virtue aside, Mr. Jayne likesbuying the vessels for clients be-cause “they look almost as good ontheir own as with flowers in them.”

Ceramist Frances Palmer, afterseeing splendid examples at theWinter Antiques Show in NewYork last year, was inspired to cre-ate tulipieres in her Connecticutstudio. “People love these sorts ofvases because it makes arrangingsuper easy,” she said. “I use themfor my dahlias. Each flower has itsown cameo, yet it’s a whole bou-quet at the end of the day.”

Said New York floral designerEmily Thompson, “I love the won-derful, knotted mess a tulipiere canbring. Materials can tangle witheach other and float over the vase.”Ms. Thompson likes slotting ingrasses, branches and foxtails tomove away from predictably color-ful, feminine arrangements and“into a meadow experience.” Mostof all, Ms. Thompson likes the waythe tulipiere pushes her: “Theyforce you to look at flowers andshapes a little bit differently.” FR

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Tulipiere, $650,francespalmerpottery.com

Country Estate Delft BlueTulipiere, $695, juliska.com

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TAKING STOCKHOLM

Sweden’s capital city hosts one of the design world’s moremodest annual fairs. A few overachieving highlights

THOUGH THE SPRAWLING annual designshows such as Salone del Mobile, in Milan,and Maison & Objet, in Paris, hog attention,the more intimate Stockholm Furniture &Light Fair remains an insider favorite. “Theemphasis there is originality, and the designsare much more personal,” said New Yorkarchitect and designer Andre Kikoski, whoshopped the event to furnish the modelapartments and amenity spaces of a Hud-son Yards residential tower project. The co-cooning Dandy chair, for example—crafted ofleather-covered steel, wood and rattan forSwedish firm Gärsnäs—might seem to riffon a Thonet classic, but the oversize, nearly37-inch-wide seat sprang from designerPierre Sindre’s desire to vanish in plain sight.“I need a place in my own house where I can

disappear for a while,” he said. Mr. Kikoskinoted that, at the show, he struggled to geta photo of the inviting seats unoccupied.Similarly approachable stone and lacquered-steel side tables by Swedese creative directorMonica Förster puckishly fool the eye, theirsurfaces initially appearing to be made ofleather, an effect aided by the tables’ fluid,unstonelike shapes. Designer Theresa Arnschanneled chemistry-lab bottles that sit ontripods to give the nearly 2-feet-tall Échassevase she created for Scandinavian brandMENU an irreverent element, she said: “Toemphasize the dependency of the vase tothe brass legs, the vase got a round bottom,so it only works properly in combinationwith the legs.” On its own, it would easilytumble over. —Catherine Romano

Gärsnäs DandyChair, $5,008,Suite NY, 866-678-6016

Pond Table,from $1,250,Swedese, 46-393-797-00

MENU Échasse Vase,$550, preorderat Creative Danes,760-230-6010

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