With the advent of water bottles, the humble vase may have evolved away from simply carrying water into a home and floral decoration, but Bahraini artist Nermin Habib sees it as something special - a vessel for carrying memory, culture and community. 
In her piece Zir, exhibited in France from September 11 to 13 during Paris Design Week as part of the 1000 Vases exhibition, Nermin explores how the vase has existed across cultures and generations, storing and naturally cooling water. 
“Inspired by the traditional zir, a large porous clay vessel historically used to cool and store drinking water through natural evaporation, the work draws from a form that once occupied homes, courtyards, streets and gathering spaces throughout the region,” she explained.
“Historically, the zir served not only as a functional object but also as a social one, often positioned in shared spaces where people gathered to drink water. 
“Its cooling properties, achieved through the natural porosity of clay, reflect generations of material knowledge developed in response to climate and daily life.”
Zir is a continuation of Nermin’s ongoing research into traditional earthenware water vessels - objects that have existed across cultures for centuries as functional tools for storing and naturally cooling water.
The zir is a traditional Egyptian water vessel once embedded in everyday life. 
However, instead of just recreating the object, she transformed it into contemporary sculpture.
Hand-built from mixed black and white stoneware, the contrasting clay bodies create an organic, unrepeatable surface, allowing heritage and contemporary expression to coexist within a single form.
“The work considers heritage not as something static or preserved unchanged, but as something capable of continuing, shifting and acquiring new meaning as it moves between generations, places and contexts,” she explained.
“The vessel no longer holds water. 
“Instead, it carries the memory of what it once was.”
Zir was presented as part of an international exhibition dedicated to contemporary interpretations of the vessel during Paris Design Week.
The piece was part of a wider conversation between makers, materials and cultural references from around the world. 
“This exhibition felt particularly different for me because almost all the work was ceramic,” Nermin told GulfWeekly. 
“There were so many artists there whose work I’ve been following and admiring on Instagram for years, so getting to finally meet them and see their pieces in real life was really rewarding. 
“Ceramics are so tactile, and there is so much you just don’t experience through a screen. 
“Seeing the scale, textures and details up close gave me a completely different appreciation for the work.
“What I found really interesting was seeing how differently each ceramic artist approached the same object. 
“Some focused more on form, while for others the story was really in the technique or process they used. 
“I saw artists mixing chunks of glaze directly into the clay body, others gradually building forms from very thin, almost paper-like pieces of clay, and others using sgraffito and glaze to tell stories across the surface.
“I think what I enjoyed most was being able to speak to the different artists and hear the stories behind the pieces and how they arrived at their techniques. It made you realise how many completely different interpretations can come from something as familiar and seemingly simple as a vase.”
Nermin is a multidisciplinary artist and ceramicist currently based at The Art Station in Muharraq. 
Her practice encompasses ceramics, filmmaking, photography and creative strategy, rooted in the concept of the ‘in-between’ - where cultures converge, identities evolve and traditions encounter contemporary expression.
Ceramics have become her main language through which she explores memory, movement, cultural heritage and material transformation. 
Her work has been exhibited internationally across Paris Design Week, Milan Design Week, London Design Festival, Ithra and Diriyah Biennale Foundation.
For more details, follow @nerminhabib on Instagram.