The studio · Netherlands

We make one vase, endlessly.

Refined Design is a small 3D-printing studio in the Netherlands. We design objects as systems rather than as single shapes, and print each one only after it has been ordered.

System N° 01 started with an argument about a vase. A vase is decided once — one shape, one colour, one height — and then it stays that way until it ends up in a cupboard. We wanted the opposite: an object that can be re-decided, by whoever owns it, without any tools.

The answer was a thread. Every section we print carries the same coarse screw thread for its diameter, so any section turns onto any other. Four profiles, six finishes, two sizes — and a vase that can be taken apart and rebuilt on a kitchen table.

Stijn Bourgondien & Huub NavesFounders · Refined Design

Build your vase

Where Designed and printed in the Netherlands
How Printed to order, never to stock
What One system, four profiles, six finishes

How we got here

Four years, one thread.

2022
One printer, one spare room
A single FDM machine, bought to print brackets, spent its first winter printing vases instead. None of them fitted together, and that turned out to be the interesting problem.
2023
The thread that had to work
A year of test prints on one joint. A thread has to turn smoothly, sit flush and survive being unscrewed a hundred times — printed in plastic, at 0.2 mm layers, that is most of the design work.
2024
System N° 01
Four profiles released together in two diameters, each printable in any of six matte filaments. Every section of a given size screws onto every other — including the ones we have not drawn yet.
Now
A farm of machines, still small
Orders print overnight, then are cut, sanded and test-fitted by hand the next morning. Nothing sits in a warehouse waiting for a buyer, and nothing is made in a quantity we cannot finish ourselves.

Studio Notes

A thread is the hardest part to print well.

Each section is modelled around the same coarse thread, printed in PLA on our own machines, then cut, sanded and test-fitted by hand until the sections turn smoothly and sit flush. A joint that binds halfway is a joint nobody uses twice.

Sections are printed to order in the profile and colour you choose, so nothing sits in a warehouse waiting for a buyer. Add a section later, swap a colour next spring — the thread stays the same.

01 Modelled around one thread, in two diameters
02 Printed in PLA over 18–40 hours
03 Threads cut, sanded and test-fitted by hand
04 Shipped assembled, tracked, from the Netherlands

Buying from us

Quietly looked after.

01 Made to order
Printed just for you

Your sections start printing the moment you order. Most builds take 18–40 hours on the machines, then finishing and test-fitting — typically 5–10 days from order to dispatch.
02 Modular
Change your mind later

Single sections can be ordered on their own at any time. The thread is the same across every piece we make, so a Wave bought next year still screws onto the Dome you have now.
03 Care
Looked after, always

Hand-wash the sections separately; a waterproof insert keeps water off the thread. If a section arrives less than perfect, send a photo within 14 days and we'll re-print it.