I promise you’ve never seen bricks like this before
5.3.2026
Translation: Eva Francis
Pictures: Pia Seidel
Sometimes there’s more to an object than meets the eye. With the Muro vases by Ferm Living, there definitely is – a house on Mallorca, a world-class architect and an ordinary brick.
What do a vase and a brick have in common? Well, more than you think. At the 3 Days of Design 2025, Phillipp Materna, Head of Brand & Design at Ferm Living, explained how the Muro collection came about.
From opera house to Mallorcan hills
Muro is Spanish for wall. The collection’s inspired by Jørn Utzon, one of the most significant architects of the 20th century. He designed the Sydney Opera House and was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2003 – the most prestigious award in the world of architecture.
Right after completing the Sydney Opera House, Utzon built Can Lis, a private home for his family, located on a hillside in Mallorca. It’s a place where architecture and landscape merge, combining rough natural stone with Mediterranean light, making it solid and airy at the same time.
The book titled Can Lis is a tribute to this house. Photographer Simon Watson captured the essence of what makes the house so special, which is how light lives in it. The Muro vase collection has translated this magical place into an object. It’s inspired by the material that characterises Can Lis: brick.
From brick to vase
Real bricks served as a model for this vase; they were used to develop the casting moulds for glassblowing. Made of fragile, transparent glass, each vase bears the rough, archaic texture of brick. This way, the building material’s become a decorative vessel.
Without knowing this background story, you’d think these are «just» pretty vases. With this information, each vase becomes a small piece of architectural history that you can put on your table. Indeed, it’s almost always worth finding out why things look the way they do.
Header image: Pia Seidel
Pia Seidel
Senior Editor
Pia.Seidel@digitecgalaxus.chLike a cheerleader, I love celebrating good design and bringing you closer to everything furniture- and interior design- related. I regularly curate simple yet sophisticated interior ideas, report on trends and interview creative minds about their work.
Background information
Interesting facts about products, behind-the-scenes looks at manufacturers and deep-dives on interesting people.
Show all
