Something I’ve only recently come to appreciate as an exceptionally designed item is the simple incense holder. Mine is very basic, just a flat piece of wood with the most gentle curve on one end, and yet that’s all one really needs to showcase a lightly smoking incense stick. A narrow valley runs the length of the wood to catch the ash that falls as the stick is spent and depending how carefully one places the incense stick in its designated hole, the ash collects as a straight, unbroken line from one side of the holder to the other. It’s unbelievably simple, yet I think the simplicity and functionality of the design is by far its greatest feature.
