VitraGlow Glass Bird Ornament

A handcrafted coloured-glass ornament built around a cluster of birds perched on a clear base. The glass is worked so that colour sits in bands and pools rather than as a flat tint, and because it is translucent the piece changes noticeably through the day — quiet in flat light, lit up when the sun crosses it or when a lamp sits behind it.

It is designed for the places that usually go empty: the end of a bookshelf, a windowsill, a hallway console, the corner of a desk. Small enough not to crowd a surface, distinctive enough to be worth looking at, and it photographs well, which matters if you are styling a room rather than just filling it.

Five configurations are available, from a single bird for a small shelf up to a five-bird arrangement with enough presence to sit alone on a mantelpiece or a dining sideboard. The three-bird versions come in two different arrangements, so you can pick the silhouette that suits the space. Each piece is handmade, so slight variation in colour and form is expected and part of the character.

• Type: handcrafted coloured glass ornament
• Options: 1, 2, 3 or 5 birds
• Material: translucent worked glass
• Best placed where daylight or lamplight can pass through
• Handmade — slight variation between pieces
• For: shelves, windowsills, consoles, mantelpieces