Ettore Sottsass was one of the masters of twentieth-century Italian design: architect, designer, photographer and writer. In the 1980s he founded the Memphis movement and revolutionised design with emotional, expressive objects. From 1955 he designed ceramics for the Raymor Company of New York, a key Bitossi client, and began a long collaboration with the manufacture.

The piece belongs to the ceramics of the Galleria Il Sestante catalogue, distributed by Bitossi Ceramiche since 1986. The catalogue gathers historic series such as Bowls and Vases, Spools and Insulators, Ashtrays and Step Vases. Each piece is still made with the techniques and materials of the originals in Montelupo Fiorentino, where Bitossi was founded in 1921. The spool vase stands out on a shelf or a desk, even without flowers. Next to the chalice vase, it forms a bold black and white pair.