Willy Guhl Round Planter

This Willy Guhl planter takes the classical urn down to a heavy, primitive form: a deep rounded bowl on a thick pedestal foot, blunt and solid, like something left out in a garden for decades. The surface is scarred by weather. A crust of dark lichen and green moss covers the gray fiber cement and gives it a rough, neglected texture. The thick rolled rim is pitted and worn, framing the interior with a jagged, uneven edge.

It measures 15 inches in diameter and 12 inches high, a compact piece that is heavier than it looks. It is an original Eternit planter, Swiss and mid-century. The lichen and moss are living and have been left on; they are the reason to buy this one rather than a cleaner example.

At this size it goes on a garden wall, a stone pier at a gate, or a sturdy table, with a single mound of boxwood or a spill of ivy. It gives instant age to a new garden, and it sits well beside a limestone trough or a stone planter of larger scale. The Willy Guhl planter is in Marina Del Rey; come and see it, or ask for photographs and a price.