NYWELE VASE DARK UMBER

The Nywele Vase Dark Umber is a hand-blown glass vase in a deep, near-black brown, built at an expanded scale. Made in Kenya by artisan studio Kitengela Glass, designed by September Collective, and drawing inspiration from the Bantu knot, each piece is shaped without molds, allowing the form to develop naturally in the hands of the maker.

The piece that anchors a room without asking for attention.

Where it lives beautifully

• On a console or sideboard with room to hold its own
• Beside a favourite chair, standing rather than tucked away
• In an entryway, as the first thing a guest notices
• Anywhere a space calls for weight instead of colour

Dark Umber reads almost black in low light, then opens into rich brown tones as the light changes. Its expanded scale gives it a quiet gravity.

Nywele, meaning hair in Swahili, is a study in translation.

What begins as a cultural expression becomes a tactile object through glass. The raised nodes echo the Bantu knot, not as decoration, but as structure. Each one placed by hand while the glass is still molten.

This is slow design, where time is visible in the final piece.

The Nywele Vase is the first in-house design developed by September Collective in collaboration with Kitengela Glass, a new chapter in translating heritage into form. Each vase is hand-blown in Kenya using recycled glass in open-air furnaces. The artisans shape each piece without molds, allowing subtle variation in form, weight, and movement. The nodes are applied in real time, creating a pattern that can never be exactly repeated.

Dark Umber was developed as an expanded form within that same design, built at a fuller scale with larger nodules, a complement to the rest of the collection.

No two pieces are identical, because they cannot be.

Styling

• Best styled with restraint, letting the piece hold the space on its own
• Pairs naturally with raw wood, stone, and warm metals
• A strong choice for entryways, consoles, or minimalist rooms with height to spare

Product Details

This is not a piece you find. It is a piece you choose — and that choice says something about the home you are building.

Learn more about Kitengela Glass here.

Learn more about the Nywele Vase here.

Note: Each Nywele vase is individually hand-blown by the artisans at Kitengela Glass in Nairobi, Kenya. As with all handmade objects, slight variations in form, colour, and texture are a natural part of the process. The piece you receive may differ slightly from the images shown, and that is what makes it entirely your own.