Living moss under glass

The Mossarium Collection

A Mossarium is a garden of living moss kept under glass. Low, round and quiet. It sits well on a desk, a shelf or a bedside table, and it asks very little of you. Each one is made by hand to order in Surry Hills, built after you order it rather than lifted off a shelf, and we work with the freshest moss we can find, so the mix shifts a little through the seasons. No two are quite the same.

We build these around moss rather than plants because moss suits the glass. It has no true roots, taking up what it needs from the damp air around it, so a closed jar is close to its natural preference rather than a compromise it tolerates. It also grows slowly. A planted terrarium keeps reaching for the lid and wants a trim eventually; a Mossarium mostly stays as it was set, settling and deepening rather than pushing out of shape.

That is the difference between a Mossarium and the rest of what we make. A terrarium is any living garden under glass, and ours are planted with ferns and small tropical greenery, and made one at a time to commission. A Mossarium is built around moss and kept low and round. There is a practical difference too: our planted terrariums are too large and delicate to post safely, while every Mossarium is packed and sent from the studio.

We post Mossariums anywhere in Australia except Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, where quarantine rules stop live plants at the border. For the same reason we cannot send them overseas.

Choosing a finish

The glass and the moss are the same across the collection. What changes is the base underneath, and choosing between them is mostly a question of what the room is already doing.

Cork is the lightest of them, warm and matte, and it is what people reach for when they want the piece to settle into a shelf rather than announce itself. Mossarium Cork is the natural tone. Mossarium Light Cork is paler again, and suits a soft or white room.

Oak gives it a little more presence. Mossarium Oak is plain warm timber. Mossarium White Oak is pale and soft-grained. Mossarium Red Oak is the one with real colour in it, warmer and richer. Mossarium Black Oak keeps the grain but drops the tone right down, so the green reads brighter above it.

Marble and concrete are the heavier end. Mossarium Marble is pale and polished, and looks composed next to stone or tile. Mossarium Black Marble has pale veining drawn through dark stone and gives the strongest contrast in the collection. Mossarium Concrete is quieter than either: grey, matte and architectural, and it sits well in a room with hard edges already in it.

Nine of the eleven are the same size, fifteen centimetres across and fifteen high. Small enough for a desk, big enough to read as part of the room from across it. The other two are the Little Mossariums, and they are a different, smaller piece rather than a scaled-down version of the same one: nine centimetres wide and just under nine high, on a plain white base or on marble. A Little is the one to send when you do not know how much shelf someone has.

A lush garden of living moss under glass, set on a natural cork base. Low, round and calming - a green pause for a desk, shelf or bedside. Give it a spot with gentle, indirect light. The enclosed glass keeps the air humid and the moss lush, so it looks after itself with little more than the occasional misting. Handcrafted to order, so no two are alike.