Abigail Klein Leichman
July 4, 2016

Summer weddings don’t necessarily mean wilted corsages – not if you put your fresh-cut flowers in Israeli industrial designer Omer Polak’s  hand-blown glass boutonniere vases fastened with a brass stickpin.

The Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design graduate (2013) believes the sense of smell is “so abstract and different from the material I work with, and the fact that it is not being used in my field led me to dive deep into the nostrils to find the essence of the sense of smell.”

Photo by Studio Omer Polak
Photo by Studio Omer Polak

His online Boutonniere Shop offers one vase lapel pin for $35; three for $90, with free worldwide shipping. Add your own water and flowers.

“Apart from being pleasing to the eye, the flower also spreads its smell while being worn,” he writes. “You can use different variations of colors and odors in the flowers’ arrangement. It’s also nice and unique to use some herbs for decoration and perfume.”

Photo by Photo Papi
Photo by Photo Papi

Polak told a blogger at From the Grapevine  that he was once invited to a summer event and improvised a lapel vase made of “a little test tube and magnet” to keep his boutonniere from drying out. His creation was the hit of the party, so he decided to commercialize the concept.

Boutonniere lapel pins by Omer Polak are perfect for weddings. Photo by gilad&mazal
Boutonniere lapel pins by Omer Polak are perfect for weddings. Photo by gilad&mazal
Designer Omer Polak, right, with his glassblower. Photo: courtesy
Designer Omer Polak, right, with his glassblower. Photo: courtesy

Polak also sells marble-and-brass Ikebana Vases, whose design he based on the Japanese floral-arranging art that emphasizes stems and leaves as much as petals.

Photo of Ikebana Vase courtesy of Studio Omer Polak
Photo of Ikebana Vase courtesy of Studio Omer Polak

“It is time to appreciate things in nature that people often overlook because of their busy lives. One becomes more persistent and tolerant of differences, not only in nature, but also in general,” Polak writes.

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