Iittala celebrates Tapio Wirkkala 100 years

Iittala celebrates Tapio Wirkkala 100 years Anniversary in 2015 by bringing many of the productive designer’s work back to production. We’ll see some new pieces of Ultima Thule, Ovalis vase, Tapio and Gaissa as well as the colorful Anniversary 2015 bottle with numbered pieces.

2015 marks 100 years since the birth of Tapio Wirkkala. Wirkkala designed a significant proportion of his work for Iittala. To honor the great designer, Iittala will be highlighting some of the familiar objects Wirkkala designed for everyday use, as well as some rare short series of his work.

Wirkkala’s lovely colored mouth-blown bottles will return to Iittala’s range in the form of a numbered series. The bottles were originally made between 1959 and 1968. Wirkkala Anniversary 2015 bottle will be re-released in a series numbered from 1 to 2015 in two sizes and four different colours.

Toward the end of the 1950s, the produc-tion of art glass increased to meet new-found demand. Wirkkala designed the Ovalis vase for Iittala in 1958 to help to meet this demand. The vase highlights the optical qualities of glass. In honour of the centenary, Iittala will release a special-edition series of Ovalis vases in clear glass and gradient grey. The mouth-blown vase will bear an engraving to mark the centenary and it will only be available in 2015.

Iittala’s range still includes the Tapio and Gaissa series of bar glasses designed by Tapio Wirkkala. He designed the Tapio series in 1954 for the Milan triennial. The most eye-catching element of the glass – the air bubble in the foot – is made using the stick-blowing technique, which was originally developed for producing art objects. The bubble is formed by pressing a wet wooden stick into the hot molten glass. Tapio has enjoyed the longest continuous period of production of any Finnish glassware series. The classic, masculine Gaissa series from 1972 currently features three glasses.

Ultima Thule - inspired by the Nordic winter and ice. The patterns gradually change as the glass burns the surface of the wooden moulds. Shortly after Ultima Thule was launched, Finnair started using the range of glassware on its Helsinki-to-New York route, which began operating in 1969. Ultima Thule found a place in Finnish hearts as an international design classic and as Finnair‘s business-class glassware. To honor the centenary, the Ultima Thule series will see the return of two plates of different sizes, a glass for sparkling wine and a pitcher. A sturdy beer glass will join the standard product range.

Tapio Wirkkala (1915–1985) was a multi-talented designer of his times. His designs ranged from glass designs and sculptures to banknotes and graphic art. Wirkkala is considered one of the leading figures of modern Finnish industrial art. He spent a significant part of his career working with glass for Iittala. This uniquely talented and productive artist created more than 400 glass objects for Iittala over the course of his career and he made a major contribution to building Iittala’s reputation, as well as that of Finnish design more generally.

Tapio Wirkkala is well known as a master of many different materials, but glass held a special significance in his work. Craftsman by nature – Tapio Wirkkala’s work at the glass factory was characterised by a strong sense of craftsmanship in keeping with the approach of the great masters of his time: he worked closely with glassblowers by searching for the best technical methods for making his objects.

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