Cattle Vase

Cattle Vase is a flower vase with a simple, delicately curved body and two vigorous horns that gently evoke a cow’s head. Its story began with Désalpe, one of Switzerland’s best-known mountain festivals, which celebrates cattle descending from the mountains to the plains after spending the summer at high altitude. During the event, the cattle’s heads are decorated with flowers. Cattle Vase captures this moment: when flowers are arranged in it, the vase becomes a Désalpe cow on the table. Its color and silhouette draw from the traditional Korean vase known as maebyeong (매병; literally, “prunus vase”). Produced in Korea from the 12th century during the Goryeo dynasty into the Joseon dynasty, maebyeong is characterized by a small opening, rounded shoulders, and an elongated body. The selected off-white color also refers to the historic image of Koreans as baegui minjok (백의민족; literally, “white-clothed people”). Drawing on the backgrounds of both Switzerland and Korea gives the object a distinctive and layered character.