Why our object is intentionally not effortless
There is one promise that we deliberately did not make with BAL: that it is effortless.
Not because we couldn't have achieved it. Because we didn't want to.
BAL has two states. The resting one, in which we often find ourselves. And the one where it burns as it should. The transition between them doesn't happen on its own. It is a choice: to enjoy a moment, or to let BAL prompt you to do so.
Without this choice, there would be no ritual, just an object that does something for us.
That is precisely why BAL does not catch all the ash. That was never a requirement. I do a lot of research and testing, and one sentence has stayed with me: Something always falls outside. Said by someone who has lived with incense sticks for decades. How much falls outside is decided by the room, the incense stick itself, the movement of the air – all things we cannot control. 
The design cannot change that. But it can do something about it: BAL catches most of the ash. The edges take care of the rest as long as BAL is at rest – which is why it doesn't need to be cleaned or emptied after every use.
And if BAL caught every bit of ash, without any input from us the balance that it carries in its name would no longer exist.
An object that no longer demands anything of us takes care of itself. It wouldn't need us. Perhaps that is the real point. We sweep away ash, wipe up, make new decisions. Without this small contribution, no sense of ease arises – only the feeling that something is still missing.
Not every object has to take that away from us. Some are allowed to give exactly that back to us.
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