Artistic Ashtrays in India

Most objects on a table were chosen. The lamp, the glasses, the bowl the keys go in. The ashtray was found: a saucer, a cut can, a steel dish from the kitchen. It sits at the centre of the table looking like exactly that. An artistic ashtray fixes the one object everyone forgot to think about. We make ours as sculpture first, with the job (a well for ash, a rest for the cigarette) designed in, so the piece still holds its own when nothing is burning.

What makes an artistic ashtray

"Artistic" gets attached to anything with a pattern on it. We use a stricter test. A piece earns the word if it does three things.

It has a form you would recognise across a room. A bulldog. A clog. A volcano. A pair of cupped hands. If the silhouette alone tells you what it is, the design is doing its work.
The function is part of the idea, not bolted on. In Jaw, the open mouth is the well. In Crater, the crater is. In Pool, the rim of the pool does the resting. The ashtray is the sculpture, not a bowl with a sculpture stuck to it.
The surface rewards a second look. Glaze that pools deeper in the recesses. Marble veining that is never the same twice. Glass that throws light across the table. Paint laid down by hand.

A designer ashtray, collection by collection

We group the pieces into families, each built around one idea. If you are looking for a designer ashtray that fits a particular room, this is the quickest way in.

Phylum: the animals

The Phylum collection is creatures with a job. Four bulldogs, each with jaws open to take the ash: Chomp in tan, Jaw in slate blue, Maw in black and Growl in espresso brown. Then Pinch, a coral crab with a domed lid.

Formations: landscape and light

Formations takes its cues from terrain. Crater and Caldera are volcanoes in black ceramic and stoneware, one bare, one snow-capped. Sierra, Frost and Surge are glass forms with crimped, ridged and wave-like edges.

Refraction: glass

Refraction is our pressed glass: clear, cut, frosted, smoked, amber and a multifaceted crystal basin called Rainbow. Glass is the most minimal material we work with, and the one where light does half the design.

Card: the suits

The Card collection is four playing cards in glazed ceramic: Club, Spade, Ace and Diamond, each with its suit raised proud. Graphic, flat, easy to place.

Hand crafted: painted by hand

The Hand crafted collection is five pieces painted individually: Swirl, Puff, Sex, Egg and Pool. Because a person holds the brush, no two are identical. These are the closest thing we make to one-off art.

Unconventional: everything else

The Unconventional collection covers the rest: the clogs, the cupped hands in resin, the real marble squares Onyx and Veil, and ten ceramic marbled squares in colours from molten orange to forest green.

Why material matters

Each material changes what an artistic ashtray can be.

Ceramic takes glaze, and glaze takes colour and depth that metal and plastic cannot. It can be shaped into almost anything, which is why our most sculptural pieces are ceramic. It has weight, wipes clean and does not hold smell.

Glass is about clarity and light. Our glass pieces are pressed, which gives crisp facets and consistent forms. They suit minimal rooms and sunny tables.

Marble is natural stone, so every piece is unique in its veining. Onyx is black seamed with gold; Veil is bone clouded with ochre. Heavy, cool to the touch, and the most classic choice.

Resin lets us make forms that would be fragile in ceramic, like the interlaced fingers of Gather and Grasp.

For a straight comparison, read ceramic vs glass vs marble.

Artistic ashtray or just a decorative one?

There is a difference, and it shows up in use. A decorative ashtray is pretty until you put ash in it, and then the ash ruins the look or the shape makes it awkward to use. An artistic ashtray is designed so that using it is part of the picture. Ash in the crater of a volcano looks right. Ash in the mouth of a bulldog looks right. A cigarette resting on the rim of a pool looks like someone leaning on the edge on a hot afternoon.

That is the standard we design to. If the object only works empty, it is not finished.

Choosing one

Start with the room, not the ashtray. A dark wood table wants something with colour or a light glaze, like Pool or Mist. A white or glass table can take a black piece like Maw or Crater and let it read as sculpture. A busy room with a lot going on suits a quieter piece, such as a card or the clear glass. A plain room can take the bulldog.

Then think about who smokes. Heavy use wants a deeper well and a surface that cleans fast, so glazed ceramic or glass. Occasional use, or a guest ashtray that is mostly decor, gives you room to choose purely on looks.

Price and delivery

Every single piece is ₹1,500 (₹1,999 struck through). Buy two and they are ₹1,250 each; buy three or more and they are ₹1,000 each, worked out automatically in the cart. Shipping is a flat ₹250 per order anywhere in India, dispatched the same or next working day, usually delivered in two to three days, with cash on delivery available. Details are on the shipping page.

See every piece side by side on the products page, and pick the one you would keep out even on a day you do not smoke.