We’ve rounded up the best incense burners and holders to suit your meditative aesthetic. From sculptural stick holders to waterfall-inspired backflow designs, these pieces add to your daily wellness routine and double as beautiful home decor.
This black walnut wood vessel allows you to burn standard-size incense sticks while collecting ashes as it falls below. The tray can also be used to hold sand or charcoal to safely light resin incense cones.
1. TMINCK Lotus Incense Stick Holder
This Kaizen Casa incense holder is boat-shaped with two holes at each end to allow you to burn more than one stick at the same time and mix different scents. It is crafted from quality wood that is lightweight and sturdy enough to withstand heat.
It is also designed with a lotus flower, which represents spirituality and growth in the Oriental culture. The lotus design is complemented by the jewelry-designed shape, making it an ideal choice for those who want to add elegance to their home décor. Its detachable design makes it multi-functional, as you can use it to burn sticks, coils, or aromatherapy burners. It is also ash-catching, which means you won’t have to worry about ashes falling on your floor or table.
2. Buro Famo Wooden Incense Burners
This 1.8-pound waterfall incense burner is one of the coolest incense holders in the market. It is designed to work with Back flow incense cones and has an amazing design that makes it look like a dragon breathing out smoke. It also holds sticks and catches all the ashes. It is perfect for your home, tea house, yoga room, or meditation space.
In addition to its decorative appearance, this incense holder has a hinge that allows for safe and easy use. It is also lightweight, which makes it portable and convenient to take on trips. It is made of sturdy Padauk wood, and features beautiful designs based on sacred geometry. It is perfect for meditating and relaxing, purifying the air, and relieving stress and anxiety.
3. Kinobjects Concrete Incense Burners
While the utilitarian and aesthetic ethos of Brutalism may not seem like an immediate partner or pairing for the calming effects of incense, Kin Object’s incense holders capture its raw architectural beauty. Inspired by the concept of wabi-sabi, its series of concrete incense burners are simple enough to spark the imagination—some may recall science class dioramas of earth, others the silhouette of an other-worldly building.
While incense sticks and cones are the most commonly available types of incense, there are also many burners designed for more unique forms of incense. For instance, this Wave incense holder, by Rachel Saunders, is wheel-thrown and hand-built with clay from local artisans and co-operatives in Canada. The ash catchers on the bottom of the holder help it to collect and retain the smoke.
4. Kinobjects Ripple Incense Burners
If candles aren’t your thing, but you still want to add a soft scent to your space, try an incense burner. This one, a backflow burner, works thanks to a simple natural phenomenon: scented smoke streams downward and flows like a waterfall.
Inspired by mist-shrouded mountains, this unique incense burner from Kin Objects resembles a miniature imagined landscape when it’s burning. The rippling effect is soothing to look at and calming to use.
Brutalism isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of incense holders, but this concrete version from Etsy shop Kin Objects uses the utilitarian aesthetic of the movement to create sleek shapes. The design also has a marble surface to help with grip. This is a meditative piece for the modern home.
5. Burke Decor Oil Burner
If candles aren’t your thing or spray air fresheners just don’t cut it for you, Burke Decor has an alternative: a sleek oil burner that works by simply filling the circular vessel with your favorite essential oil and then lighting a soy tealight candle. The result is a warm yellow glow and subtle wafts of fragrance.
The grey piece here is by artist Julia Finlays of the ceramic collection Grandmont Street, who credits a pottery class for her career shift into modern stoneware. Her style has an earthy desert modern feel that complements the meditative vibe of a home office or zen garden. Also from her etsy shop is this agate-inspired holder that’s equally striking and calm to look at. It’s a visual piece you’ll want to keep out even when it’s not holding your slow burns.