Wooden House Plants - Mini Pansy

• The colour is the first thing. Violet, buttery yellow, rose pink and amber-orange faces with dark centres sit against fresh green leaves.
• The pot is painted in soft watercolour tones, lilac fading to pink, with a little saucer beneath it.
• The outline follows the shape of the plant, so leaves and a few trailing blooms break the edge rather than sitting inside a plain block.
• You can see the wood in the profile. The cut edge shows warm, honey-toned grain with a gently ridged texture, which frames the bright front nicely.

It is handcrafted in India from natural mango wood, with enamel detail that gives the petals their depth of colour. As a natural material, mango wood varies from piece to piece, so the grain along the edge will differ a little from one to the next. That variation is part of why each one looks like a made object rather than a printed one.

A desk, a bookshelf, a windowsill or a bedside table are all good homes. It suits a spot where you would like something cheerful at eye level, and it works as a single accent or grouped with other wooden plants for a small, ever-blooming shelf garden. Because it is a stand-alone piece, it is easy to move around with the seasons.

Pansies have been cottage-garden favourites for centuries, and in the Victorian language of flowers they were associated with thoughtfulness and remembrance. The name comes from the French pensée, meaning 'thought'. It makes this little pot a kind way of saying you were thinking of someone, or simply a reminder to enjoy your own small corner.

Dust it with a dry, soft cloth. Keep it away from standing water and prolonged damp, which natural wood does not like, and out of constant strong sunlight, which can dull painted colour over time.