What do you do with a vase when you don’t have any flowers to display in it? While some might have an aesthetic appeal in their own right, others look incomplete without a bouquet and so are consigned to a cupboard.

Designer Georgios Maridakis has come up with a witty solution. His prototype Sèvres Vase Clock (right), featured on www.coolhunting.com, makes the vessel a talking point by transforming it into a chiming clock. When placed on its wood and brass plinth, the vase is tapped by a hammer every hour to make it “ring”. And the pitch of the “chime” can be altered according to how much liquid is inside.

Designer Philippe Starck has also tackled the challenge of giving a “vase” an additional use – he has maximised it. His £2,700, bi-coloured Holly All design, featured on www.trendhunter.com, is two metres tall and is intended for use outdoors as a planter and garden seat. Its sinuous form, created for Italian company Serralunga, is crafted from polyethylene and steel and elevates the greenery while also providing a neat cubby-hole in which a person can perch.