Tapio Wirkkala

Tapio Wirkkala (1915–1985) was one of the greatest Finnish designers in history. An enduring icon of Scandinavian design, he owes his fame to an almost magical ability to recreate the forms of living nature using industrial materials. In his hands, glass becomes ice—as in the Ultima Thule glassware series (Iittala, 1968) or takes on the shape of a mushroom, as in the celebrated Kantarelli vase that brought him international recognition and launched his career (Iittala, 1946). Plywood assumes the form of a leaf, as in the elegant Leaf centerpiece (1951) and in the furniture he designed for Asko; ceramic bends and crumples like a paper bag, as in the Paperbag centerpiece (Rosenthal, 1977). These illusionist skills are combined with a profound knowledge of and respect for the history of Finnish craftsmanship, a major source of inspiration for many of his works, which often occupy the subtle boundary between art and design. Beyond his homeland, Wirkkala was also deeply connected to Italy: he exhibited in numerous editions of the Milan Triennale, where he won several Gold Medals (1951, 1954, 1960, 1963), and became a close friend of Gio Ponti, who described him as a “noble savage from the woods.” It was Gio Ponti who introduced him to the Venini glassworks in the 1960s, initiating an important collaboration that allowed Wirkkala to explore a very different interpretation of glass from the one that had made him famous through his work with Iittala. For Wirkkala, Finnish glass was transparent and austere—a fresh dew to be condensed into forms shaped by inspiration—whereas with Venetian glass he allowed himself an airy explosion of color.