Maru Decorative Planter

Designed by Jamela Alawneh for Melaaura, the Maru decorative planter is a precise and quietly powerful object,a pure cylinder in fiber cement that earns its place in a space not through gesture or novelty, but through the absolute confidence of its proportion and the material honesty of its surface. It is a planter that understands restraint as a form of strength, and that trusts the architecture around it to do what decoration cannot.

Alawneh’s design for Maru begins and ends with form. The silhouette is uninterrupted, no lip at the rim, no taper toward the base, no applied detail of any kind. Just a clean vertical cylinder with a softly rounded base that gives it a sense of grounded stability without the visual weight of a hard edge meeting a surface. The result is a form that reads simultaneously as permanent and effortless, belonging to its environment without being shaped by it. Its subtly textured matte surface catches light with a quiet dimensionality that prevents the piece from reading as flat or generic, while its matte finish ensures it never becomes reflective or visually demanding.

Available in three sizes — with the small version standing at a commanding 60 cm tall, the Maru scales naturally across a wide range of spatial contexts. A single small Maru anchors an entryway or interior corner with precision. Medium and large versions open up to more generous layouts: open-plan living rooms, gallery-like commercial interiors, covered terraces, and hotel lobbies where visual clarity and material quality are the primary language. Staggered in clusters of two or three at ascending heights, the Maru creates vertical rhythm across a space without introducing noise or visual complexity, a quality particularly valued by designers working in environments where every object is required to earn its place.

Available in two carefully considered colorways; White, crisp and gallery-ready, lending the planter a neutrality that allows the planting above it to take full visual command, and Charcoal, a deeper, more grounded tone that anchors lighter spaces and pairs naturally with lush green foliage, raw concrete, and natural stone, Maru adapts readily across contemporary, minimalist, and transitional design contexts. Both finishes develop a natural patina over time that enhances rather than compromises the piece’s character.

Constructed from fiber cement, the Maru is built for permanence. It supports full root systems with ease, its generous interior cavity providing adequate depth and volume for a wide range of planting types from compact succulents and trailing botanicals to upright ornamental grasses and architectural indoor plants. Drainage can be adapted with liners or inserts depending on the application, making it equally well suited to outdoor covered settings and indoor environments.

For commercial interiors, reception areas, boutique retail, galleries, hospitality environments, Maru brings the kind of composed, clutter-free presence that professional design requires. For residential spaces built around visual clarity and material consistency, it is the piece that completes the room without announcing itself. In both contexts, it does what the best design always does: it disappears into the architecture until you realise the space wouldn’t feel the same without it.

At Niche Beverly, we carry the Maru decorative planter as part of our curated selection of the world’s finest luxury furniture and accessories. Visit our Los Angeles showroom or contact us to discuss sizes, finishes, and lead times for your project.