Empty But Awake Vial

How absolutely vial! A fly rests on this tiny glass cylinder with removable silver top, the latest in the ongoing series examining the culture's penchant for self-medication and addiction by Cast of Vices. But it's not simply a commentary on the substances and their abuse. COV creative director Christopher Glancy and artisan jeweler Jay LeCompte spotlight the inherent design that go into fashioning them. To them, they are all effigies of the detritus that wreaks pleasure and pain in our modern world. "When our Rome falls, these will be our remains," say the Los Angeles-based duo, "cigarette butts, pills, bottle caps. The fly symbolizes the stench of our addictions."