Black Handled Vase | Handmade Stoneware

This vase is dark. Almost black. The kind of dark that absorbs light rather than reflecting it.

The stoneware is heavily textured, rough to the touch, alive under the fingers, like the surface of a rock that has been in the sea for a long time. Two small handles sit at the shoulders, discreet but deliberate. They are not decorative. They are a gesture, an invitation to hold, to carry, to keep.

A piece that commands a space without asking for attention.

Born from stone

Part of the À Ras Bord series, Côte des Basques, 2026, this piece was born from a gesture at the edge of the everyday. A few days ago, at sunset, Cecile Mestelan placed ceramics on the limestone rocks of the Côte des Basques. Not in a gallery. Not on a white plinth. On stone, grey and ochre, streaked with minerals, shaped by years of water and salt.

The calcaire of the Basque Coast is an archive. Every vein of rust and white tells a slow transformation, the same transformation clay undergoes in fire. Photographed at dusk on the Basque Coast, this vase almost disappears into the stone. Almost. But it is there, present, grounded, unmistakable.

This series marks the beginning of a new phase in Cecile Mestelan's practice: more mature, more affirmed, more free. Each piece carries that moment with it.

Handmade in Biarritz

The Black Handled Vase is handmade in Biarritz by Cecile Mestelan. One of a kind. Because it is shaped by hand, no two pieces are identical. Dimensions, colour, and texture vary slightly from piece to piece. That variation is not a flaw. It is the work.

Material and care

• Material: Black stoneware.
• Dimensions: 32 cm tall, 20 cm wide.
• Colour: Dark chocolate.

One of a kind. Handmade in Biarritz by Cecile Mestelan. Slight variations in form, colour, and surface are inherent to the handmade process. Handle with care.

PHOTO ©EmmyMartens