Fill the iittala Alvar Aalto Finlandia White Vase with long-stemmed tulips, stand a few branches of pussy willow in it at the end of winter, or leave it empty on a shelf and let the shape do the work. Each one is mouth-blown into a wooden mould at the Iittala glass factory in Finland, a piece of work that takes seven artisans around thirty hours. The moulds survive only a limited number of blows before they're replaced, so no two vases come out quite alike.

Alvar Aalto drew the wave outline in 1936 as an entry in the Karhula-Iittala glass design competition, and it took first prize. The following year it traveled to the Finnish Pavilion at the Paris World's Fair, where a free, asymmetric silhouette stood out sharply in a hall of symmetry, and it went on to furnish the tables of Helsinki's Savoy restaurant. Aalto never explained where the curve came from; Finland's lakes and shorelines are the usual guess.

In white the glass is glossy but opaque, so the waves register as shifts of light and shadow along the curves rather than through them. At 10 inches tall it holds long stems without crowding them, and it earns its place on a mantel, an entry table or a wide windowsill. It's the Finnish design gift that suits a wedding, a new house or a milestone birthday.

• Brand: iittala
• Designer: Alvar Aalto
• Country: Designed in Finland, Made in Finland
• Material: Mouthblown Glass
• Measurements: 10" Height x 6.75" Width x 5.5" Depth (25 x 17 x 14 cm)