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 normal vase has one shape, one colour and one height, and it stays that way until it ends up in a cupboard. We wanted a vase you can put together again and again, without tools.

So it is made of sections that all fit together. Any section twists onto any other of the same diameter. There are five profiles in seven colours and two sizes, and you can take the vase apart and rebuild it at the kitchen table.

Stijn Bourgondien & Huub NavesFounders · Refined Design

Build your own vase

Ember, a five-module modular vase in terracotta and warm brown — The print farm, mid-run

Where Designed and printed in the Netherlands
How Printed to order, never to stock
What One system, five profiles, seven colours

How we got here

Four years, one system.

2022
The first printer
It started with a single printer and a run of one-off vase designs. None of them fitted together, and that turned out to be the interesting problem.
2023
Sections that had to fit
A year of test prints, so the sections fit together properly. They have to turn smoothly, line up neatly and come apart a hundred times. Printed in plastic at 0.2 mm layers, that is where most of the design work goes.
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 fits onto every other, including the ones we have not drawn yet.
Nu
A farm of machines, still small
Every order prints on our own machines, in the profile and colour you choose, and leaves assembled. Everything is made to order, just for you.

Stack and swap, everything fits.

We print every section ourselves in the Netherlands, and they all fit together, today and years from now.

We print every section to order, in the profile and colour you choose. Add a section later or pick a new colour next spring. Everything always fits together.

01 Designed to fit together, in two diameters
02 Your vase is printed to order, in 18 to 40 hours (depending on order size)
03 We put your vase together
04 Shipped assembled, tracked, from the Netherlands

Chalk, a three-module modular vase in Matte Light Khaki

Meadow, a four-module modular vase alternating Matte Olive Green and Matte Light Khaki

Printed just for you
Your sections start printing the moment you order. Most vases take 18 to 40 hours on the machines. Then we put your vase together. The expected production time right now is 4 working days; after that we ship it.
Change your mind later
Single sections can be ordered on their own at any time. Everything we make fits together, so a section bought next year still fits the Dome you have now.
Looked after, always
Hand-wash the sections separately; a waterproof insert holds the water, so the sections stay dry. If a section arrives less than perfect, send a photo within 14 days and we'll re-print it.