Stefano Ricci SR Octagonal Ashtray — Briar Root Red / Gold

Stefano Ricci SR Octagonal Ashtray — Briar Root Red / Gold

Briar root — the root burl of Erica arborea, the Mediterranean heath tree — is the wood of pipe-making, chosen above all other materials for the combination of properties that define it: extreme density, natural heat resistance derived from the silicate compounds in the grain, and a burl figure that is unique to each piece. The root burl grows slowly underground over decades, building density as it goes, and the grain patterns it produces — tight, swirling, without the regularity of straight-grained timber — are the result of that slow accumulation. A briar ashtray brings the same material to the smoking table in a different form: the wood that has traditionally held the smoke carries it here as structure.

Red Briar

Coloring briar root does not conceal the grain — the pigment penetrates the surface and the wood's figure remains visible through the finish, the tight burl pattern reading through the red as texture and depth. Red briar is vivid and deliberate without becoming flat; the color and the natural material work together rather than against each other. Against the crystal bowl and gold details, the red briar occupies the warm, chromatic register of the composition.

Crystal Bowl

The central ashtray bowl is crystal — not porcelain, not stone, but glass with the clarity and weight that crystal provides. The transparency of the bowl reveals the table surface beneath it, gives the ash a visible resting place, and introduces a material that is formal and domestic simultaneously. Crystal and briar root are both materials with long histories in objects that accompany tobacco — the combination is deliberate rather than arbitrary.

2 Brass Cigar Holders / Gold Details

Two brass cigar holders are set into the briar root structure with gold details — the format of a solitary smoke or a shared one between two people. The 19 × 19 cm octagonal form is smaller and more personal than the four-rest porcelain series, designed for the desk or the side table rather than the center of a social gathering.

Now available at The Tobacconist of Greenwich.