Tapio Wirkkala's 100th Anniversary

Take a piece of ice in your hand and find our culture in it; find it in a stone smoothed by the rapids, or in sand that waves have shaped...
- Tapio Wirkkala, 1953

Tomorrow begins the last month of Tapio Wirkkala's (1915-1985) 100th anniversary year, one of the leading figures of Finnish design.

Tapio Wirkkala was born in 1915 in Hanko, South Finland, where he spent his childhood and youth with his parents and two younger siblings. In the 1920s the family moved to Helsinki. Wirkkala's artistic talents were noticed from early on, and at the older age he studied ornamental sculpture at the Central School of Arts and Crafts from 1933 to 1936.

In the beginning of the 1950s Wirkkala's career skyrocketed after that he designed the Finnish departments of the Milan Triennials in 1951 and 1954. From both occasions he received the Grand Prix for the exhibition design and his work in glass and wood. In 1951 he also won the Lunning prize and his work Lehti (Leaf) was chosen as 'the most beautiful object of the year' by the American magazine House Beautiful. From 1951 to 1954 he worked as artistic director of the Institute of Industrial Art in Helsinki, and in 1954 Wirkkala was appointed as artistic director of the Karhula-Iittala (later Iittala) glassworks.

Wirkkala's work is recognisable from the natural shapes and forms. It is not surprising to hear that nature was Wirkkala's main source of inspiration. He was further an exceptional versatile artist: his designs range from glass design to the design of banknotes which remained in circulation from 1947 until the 1980s. Therefore Wirkkala's work has reached every corner of the Finnish society. Back at my childhood home Wirkkala has been present with his Ultima Thule series, which my mother still daily uses.

Since January the 1st of this year Wirkkala's designs have been widely celebrated in Finland. Internatioanlly the celebrations have been the most visible through Iittala, for which Wirkkala designed about 400 glass objects during his career. For this year only Iittala brought back Wirkkala's mouth-blown bottles and expanded the Ultima Thule series with new and old products.


Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4 Images: 1, 2, 3