Stretch Color Vase

Stretch Color Vase

Stretch Color Vase is an award-winning homeware design that exemplifies the intersection of two-dimensional visual art and three-dimensional sculptural form through its innovative exploration of gradient transparency and spatial perception. Designed by Bo Zhang and recognized with the Silver A' Design Award in the Decorative Items and Homeware Design category in 2025, this collection comprises a series of vases that challenge conventional notions of material presence and absence through deliberate manipulation of color, form, and transparency. The design employs acrylic combination and spray color techniques to create vessels that appear to oscillate between planar art paintings and sculptural objects depending on the viewer's perspective, a phenomenon achieved through carefully engineered gradient transparent plates that progressively transition from saturated color to complete transparency. The three-sized vases within the collection, measuring 36×7.5×7.5 centimeters and 27×7.5×7.5 centimeters respectively, demonstrate varying intensities of chromatic stretching in three-dimensional space, with each piece featuring curved forms that enhance the visual perception of color extension and spatial distortion. The conceptual foundation of Stretch Color Vase rests upon the designer's investigation into how gradient color application can create illusions of dimensional transformation, wherein the structure and shape of each vase become deliberately blurred through the treatment of transparent materials, progressing from deep saturation to light tones and ultimately to colorless transparency. This graduated disappearance of both color and form generates what the designer characterizes as a fantasy of uncertainty, where the boundaries between the object's physical presence and its dissolution into surrounding space become ambiguous and perceptually fluid. The technical execution involves sophisticated spray color application on acrylic components that are then combined to form vessels capable of holding floral arrangements while simultaneously functioning as standalone sculptural statements. The design's innovation lies not merely in its aesthetic presentation but in its fundamental reconsideration of how decorative objects occupy and interact with space, challenging viewers to reconsider the relationship between object permanence and visual ephemerality. The curved geometries employed throughout the collection serve dual purposes: they enhance the sense of visual stretching that gives the series its name while also creating optimal conditions for light interaction with the gradient surfaces, thereby amplifying the perceptual effects that constitute the work's primary artistic statement. As a homeware design, Stretch Color Vase transcends utilitarian function to engage with broader questions in contemporary design practice regarding materiality, perception, and the boundaries between functional objects and art pieces. The collection's recognition by the A' Design Award jury, one of the world's most prestigious design competitions, acknowledges both its technical sophistication and its contribution to advancing discourse within decorative arts and homeware design. The Silver A' Design Award designation specifically recognizes designs that demonstrate not only aesthetic excellence but also significant innovation, original thinking, and the capacity to evoke emotional responses while maintaining professional execution and practical functionality. The design's ability to create mysterious expressiveness through the interplay of transparency, color, and form represents a sophisticated understanding of visual perception principles and their application to three-dimensional design. The deliberate creation of local disappearing effects within each vase generates a dynamic viewing experience wherein the object's appearance transforms based on viewing angle, lighting conditions, and spatial context, effectively making each installation of the work a unique perceptual event. This approach to homeware design reflects contemporary movements within industrial design that seek to imbue everyday objects with heightened aesthetic and experiential qualities, transforming routine domestic items into opportunities for contemplation and sensory engagement. The technical challenges overcome in realizing Stretch Color Vase involved developing precise methods for achieving seamless gradient transitions across curved acrylic surfaces while maintaining structural integrity sufficient for functional use as flower vessels, requiring careful consideration of material properties, manufacturing processes, and assembly techniques. The design's emphasis on visual stretching and color transformation in three-dimensional space connects to broader artistic traditions exploring perception and phenomenology, while its execution as functional homeware grounds these conceptual explorations in tangible, accessible form. The collection's aesthetic strategy of progressive disappearance creates a poetic tension between presence and absence, materiality and immateriality, that elevates the work beyond conventional decorative object design into a more conceptually engaged territory. By creating vessels that appear to dematerialize through graduated transparency, Stretch Color Vase invites contemplation of impermanence and transformation, themes that resonate across multiple cultural and philosophical traditions while remaining accessible through the familiar domestic context of flower display. The design's success in balancing artistic ambition with functional practicality demonstrates sophisticated design thinking that recognizes the potential for everyday objects to carry conceptual weight without sacrificing usability or aesthetic appeal.

Gradient transparency design, acrylic homeware innovation, perceptual sculpture vase, dimensional color stretching, contemporary decorative objects, spatial illusion design

— Adam Dawson

CITATION : "Adam Dawson. 'Stretch Color Vase.' Design+Encyclopedia. https://design-encyclopedia.com/define/stretch-color-vase?E=483008 (Accessed on October 14, 2026)"