Burned Landscape by Dechem launches our new curatorial project Vases for Artium by KKCG.
9. 5. 2026
Working from its headquarters in Prague’s Bořislavka district, the Artium by KKCG is launching a long-term curatorial project called Vases in cooperation with DesignBlok, Prague International Design Festival. The central goal of the project is to systematically support Czech design while simultaneously cultivating the public space of the Artrium building for employees as well as visitors engaged in the local cultural scene.
One original designer vase will be presented every month, selected with an emphasis on originality, craftsmanship and the ability to stand out as a solitaire piece in the space. The curatorial selection has been prepared by DesignBlok director Jana Zielinski and Andrea Běhounková, journalist and member of the DesignBlok Advisory Board.
The project launches with a vase from the Burned Landscape collection by DECHEM studio, founded in 2012 by Michaela Tomišková and Jakub Janďourek. Their work builds on the duo’s deep knowledge of the Czech glassmaking environment and the continuity of its technological and formal principles, which they systematically revisit within the framework of contemporary design. The studio emphasizes a close connection between design and production, working with traditional techniques of hand-crafted glass, which they use not only as a point of reference but also as an active, creative tool. When creating their Burned Landscape vase, the designers developed on the popular Bandaska piece that they first presented in 2014 at DesignBlok and which grew out of the authors’ inner need to work with the archetypal shape of the so-called ‘bandaska’ milk jug. This vase immediately caused a sensation and has since become one of the studio’s most successful products. The authors have taken the object further, especially in terms of its color scheme, and over the years have created several limited editions.
The latest addition is Burned Landscape, which the studio launched last fall. What began as an experimental drawing with molten glass on paper has developed into a three-dimensional object and has shifted the now-iconic Bandaska into a new, more expressive form. Each piece from this edition is a unique original, carrying its own landscape or, as the authors themselves describe it, a “panoramic trace of fire, air and human gesture.”
The installation method also plays a fundamental role in the Vases project. The floral compositions will not be created by a florist per se but, for example, by jeweler Zdeněk Vacek who approaches the project with the expertise of his own discipline. Zdeněk understands the flower as the vase’s jewel, as its ephemeral yet immensely significant layer, and he has long been working with this medium in parallel to his original jewelry work. Working under his own brand, he creates objects that straddle the border between jewelry and artefact, often combining organic materials and metal. He has managed to formulate not only a distinctive creative style but has also developed original craft techniques. Last year, Zdeněk Vacek celebrated twenty-five years of his work with the exhibition DARK’n’LUSH, exhibited at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague where he presented his transition from jewelry to the creation of artistic objects and site-specific installations.
A new item will be created every first Tuesday of the month, establishing dialogue between object and living material, between design and nature. Individual installations will be continuously documented by photographer Eda Babák, winner of the Czech Grand Design Award 2025 in the Discovery of the Year category. DECHEM studio and Zdeněk Vacek are also Czech Grand Design Award winners who have been awarded the main prize of Grand Designer.
The Vases project will gradually introduce a wide range of original creators, from the up-and-coming generation of designers to established names of the Czech scene, and will explore the vase as an object that has transcended its original function and has entered the space in its own, autonomous form.
Head to Artium by KKCG at Bořislavka to catch the ephemeral beauty of the flowers and the modern yet timeless Czech design of the Dechem vase. Learn more at artium.kkcg.com.
Vase: Studio Dechem, Burned Landscape
Floral installation: Zdeněk Vacek
Concept and curatorial selection: Jana Zielinski, Andrea Běhounková
Photographer: Eda Babák
Communication: Patrik Florián
Graphic design: Permanent Office
Production: Šimon Borecký
