Kultakeskus Oy

A beautiful example of Tapio Wirkkala's bird sculpture in solid brass. This minimalistic piece by Wirkkala, who started his career as a sculptor, objectifies his minimal organic appr...

A beautiful set of Eva Hidström highly collectable sterling silver handmade and hammered bowls with colourful enamel on the inside. Rarely on offer as a s...

A leaf shaped silver serving dish with a teak handle, model TW85 designed and signed by Tapio Wirkkala. This dish is from 1956. A perfect example of Wirkkala's genious designs derive...

A couple of nice Tapio Wirkkala bronze bird sculptures (paper weights). Both items are in beautiful original condition with nice vintage patinas. Alt...

Tapio Wirkkala is one of the pioneers of modern design in Finnish precious metals as well as glass design. Together with Bertel gardberg, he laid the foundations of modern design in...

Modern sculptural tray designed by Tapio Wirkkala (1915-1985). Fabulous and very rare modernist tray dish, designed by the silversmith artist Tapio Wirkkala, back in the 1955. The sculptural tray has been crafted by Kultakeskus Oy in the city of Oulu, Finland in the shape of a boat in solid .916/.999 sterling silver with high polished finish. The incredible design is dated 1962 and is made up with a navette shaped piece, with several embossed levels in low and high elliptical with an elliptical hammered recess and an elliptical convex base, which create a fabulous optical effect. This tray is beautiful and elegant piece by one of the great 20th century designers is in lovely condition. It is a piece of sculptural art and will display with great eye appeal. Note: This is the model TW-114. Weight: 186.2 Grams, (119.40 Dwt). Measurements: 95 mm by 301 mm by 26 mm (3.75 x 11.85 x 1.04 Inches). Hallmarks: Stamped and engraved with the Finnish crown mark; the maker's mark, the mark for the assay of the .916 silver, the code for the date of production of 1962, the mark for the town of Oulu and signed in full, "TAPIO WIRKKALA 916H 1-7". Tapio Wirkkala Wirkkala was born in Hanko in 1915. He attended the Töölö co-educational school in Helsinki. His father, Ilmari Wirkkala, was a cemetery architect, and mother Selma (née Vanhatalo) a wood-carver. His sister Helena Korvenkontio and brother Tauno Wirkkala were also artists. Wirkkala's work ranges from designs of plastic ketchup bottles and metalwork to glass, ceramics and plywood in a range of styles. His success as a glass designer began in 1946 when he designed the Kantarelli vase for Iittala, and the mass-produced Tapio collection was launched in 1954. His range was immense, including glassware, stoneware, jewellery, and furniture for mass production, as well as individual sculptures in several media. He designed commemorative postage stamps for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, and also designed the Finnish markka banknotes introduced in 1955. In the early 1950s, Wirkkala worked as the artistic director at the Helsinki Central School of Industrial Design. The WIR lightbulb designed by Wirkkala for Airam Electric was awarded the Grand Prix at the XII Milan Triennial in 1960. Among his most famous work have been the designs for the Finlandia vodka bottle (1970–1999) and for Iittala's Ultima Thule set of kitchen glasses. Both glassware items feature a dripping icicle look, and in the case of the Iittala's glassware it is said to have taken thousands of hours to develop a glassblowing technique that would produce the effect. Wirkkala did much of his initial design work using a traditional Finnish carving knife, the puukko. Wirkkala designed his own version of the knife, the Tapio Wirkkala Puukko...

Tapio Wirkkala designed a large number of items fo Kultakeskus OY. Materials ranged from silver to bronze and other metals. This particular model was introduced in 1971 in a number of different sizes ranging from 160-290 mm. 48 pieces of these were given in 1978 World Champions sky competition in Lahti, Finland. This was also officially introduced in an exhibition in London in 1972. This design is of course very functional as well, since these bowls can be used for a variety of reasons, such as fruit bowls and so on. These 2 pieces came from the same household, so they sustain similar patina, since they aged in the same surroundings. The measures 25x8 cm are for the bigger bowl.. The smaller one is 16x7 cm. The bigger bowl has beautiful darker beauty marks or vintage spots 🙂 that only come with age and use, refer to pictures please. Rarely does a designer command such an expansive talent and career as Wirkkala did. Inspired by nature and armed with exceptional understanding of geomety and ratios, his designs literally shaped much of our daily lives. Designs ranging from daily items such as money...

Tapio Wirkkala is one of the pioneers of modern design in Finnish metals as well as glass design. Together with Bertel gardberg, he laid the foundations of modern design in an indus...