A Lovely Vase Used for an Unorthodox Purpose

We live on a golf course, across from the women’s tee for the 11th hole. Older gentlemen also use this tee, so I call it the “old folks’ tee.” I don’t know what the formal name is for the tee closest to the hole.

There are two tees that precede the old folks’ tee on this hole. Errant shots that hook right from these allegedly more professional (and definitely more difficult) tees sometimes cause balls to land in our backyard.

In addition, I walk along the golf cart path behind our house about once a week. Often, as I walk to the path from our yard, I find other balls in the rough between our yard and the golf course.

During the four years we have lived in this house, I have acquired quite a few golf balls. I retrieved most of them from our yard, and others I’ve unearthed on my walks. Most of the balls are white, but I’ve found fluorescent pink and green and blue as well.

I have amassed quite an eclectic collection. Shortly after we moved into our home, I sent a few balls to my brother. But the rest I have kept.

Several years ago, our daughter-in-law gave my husband and me a beautiful Iitalo Aalto Vase. Alvar Aalto was a Finnish designer and architect, and our daughter-in-law is Finnish.

I’ve learned something about Alvar Aalto since receiving the vase. He designed buildings, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as creating sculptures and paintings. In 1936, Aalto designed the prototype of the vase we received. The Aalto Vase won first place in the Karhula-Iittala Glass Design Competition. The following year, it received accolades at the World’s Fair in Paris.

Vases based on this design have been hand-blown at the Iitalo Glass Factory ever since. The simple, organic, wave-like curves of the Aalto Vase (also known as the Savoy Vase) have earned admirers worldwide.

When we first received our vase, I used it for pretty things. For example, it held a Christmas arrangement of pine cones and holiday ribbons one year.

But since we moved into our current house, it has become the repository of golf balls. And a few unbroken tees, which I’ve also found along the golf course. I’m not sure it’s appropriate to put such prosaic, man-made items in our lovely Aalto vase. But it makes me smile whenever I see it.

Plus, I’ve seen pictures of Aalto vases used to hold flowers of every ilk, planted as terrariums, filled with walnuts, containing a little Christmas tree potted inside, filled with shells, holding kitchen utensils, as well as for many other purposes. So why not as a receptacle for golf balls?

The vase is practically full now, and I’m going to have to find something else to do with the golf balls. Neither my husband nor I is a golfer, and we have no need of them. Perhaps I will put them in a less fragile bucket out next to the golf cart path and invite golfers who pass by to take one. But the beautiful Aalto Vase I will keep.

What lovely things do you use for everyday purposes?