9 Ways to Adorn Your Vong (Vase~Bong)
First: wtf is a Vong?
"Vong" is a term of endearment for The Vase by Mantelpiece, which appeared out of necessity since we're often limited in our choice of words on social.
The Vase is Mantelpiece's crown jewel, our ride or die, our main squeeze – a flower vase with a fully concealed glass bong tucked inside. That's the elevator pitch. In practice, it's also a beautiful glass object that earns its place on any shelf, holds flowers as well as any vase you own, and reveals its second function only to guests who pick it up and look closely.
We've been calling it "the Vong" for a while now. The Vong is how we talk about The Vase with folx in the know. If you're reading this, that's you.
Now. What goes in it.
What you put in the Vong changes everything.
Not just how it looks – though that too – but what the object signals, how guests interact with it, and when the reveal happens. Fresh flowers say something different than dried ones. Candy changes who picks it up and how often. Goldfish stop people cold.
These nine options come from Elisabeth's own experiments – many documented on her Instagram – and they cover the full range: the serene, the editorial, the theatrical, and the ones that double as conversation starters on their own. Pick one for the season. Change your mind in three months. The Vong is built for it.
1. Fresh flowers
The obvious answer, and also the right one. The Vong is sized for a real arrangement – something with actual stems, something that needs water, something your guests might reach toward before they clock what they're looking at. Go loose. Go tall. Peonies in June, ranunculus in winter, whatever the corner market has on a Thursday.
One note on proportion: a single large stem often reads better than a packed arrangement. The Vong's silhouette is strong. It doesn't need help filling the room.
2. Dried flowers
Where fresh flowers say this week, dried flowers say this always. Pampas grass, preserved eucalyptus, bleached palm – anything that's been drained of color and came out better for it. Dried arrangements photograph well, last indefinitely, and require nothing after the initial styling. They also have a specific quality – considered rather than forced – that suits the Vong's glass exterior.
3. A terrarium or trailing vine
Pothos, ivy, a small philodendron – anything that will eventually do what it wants regardless of what you've put it in. Trailing vines that spill over the edge make the Vong look less like a product and more like it's been in the room for years.
One maintenance note: keep water in the base, and trim back anything that gets too ambitious. The Vong is not a planter – don't let it become one without consent.
4. Goldfish
Yes, this is real. Yes, someone has done it.
A small volume of water (don't forget to let it evaporate!) and a fish or two. The result is the Vong as a living object – an aquarium that happens to be beautiful, something your guests will circle twice before asking what they're looking at. This is not a permanent situation (transfer them when you need the Vong to be the Vong again), but as a dinner party moment, nothing else on this list comes close.
5. Candy
Fill it. M&Ms, wrapped caramels, Jordan almonds in a color appropriate to the season – whatever reads as intentional rather than leftover Halloween. This is about generosity: the Vong as something to reach into, something that changes what guests do when they walk past.
Take what you want. There's more.
6. A matchbook collection
Flat at the bottom, stacked or fanned, labels facing out. Hotel matchbooks, restaurant matchbooks, the ones from places that don't exist anymore. This is the most editorial option on the list – the Vong as an archive, a record of rooms you've been in. If you have these in a drawer somewhere, you already know what to do.
7. Shells
Specific shells. The ones you picked up yourself from a beach you remember, or the ones that cost more than you planned at a shop you wandered into. A mix of textures – something smooth, something ridged, something with a lip you want to run your thumb along.
Most people have shells. Most people have them in a bowl or a bag, which is not a great life for a shell. The Vong gives them somewhere to actually live.
8. Fairy lights
Coiled inside and switched on, the Vong becomes a lamp. It's the most theatrical option here – which is exactly why it works for certain moments. New Year's, a winter dinner, any night that calls for something that glows from the inside. During the day, it's a vase. After dark, it's something else entirely.
9. Christmas ornaments
A cluster of ornaments – mixed finishes, no theme, no matching required – turns the Vong into a centerpiece with nothing to apologize for. Glass balls, matte spheres, the weird one your mother gave you that you've never thrown away. Fill it generously. December is not the month for restraint.
The Vong is available at yourmantelpiece.com. And if you're thinking about what else belongs near it on the shelf – we have thoughts on that too.
