Vintage Birger Kaipiainen Decorated Ceramic Hanging Platter, Finland, 1940's

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Amazing, unique stoneware platter by Birger Kaipiainen. Beautiful composition with deep red poppy flowers with seeds in relief in the center and butteflies scattered on the petals. ...

Birger Kaipiainen (1915-1988) was the master of decorative ceramics at the Arabia factory in Finland. He was well known for his ornamental dishes that were rich, colourful and with themes from the fantasy world and fairytales, which actually fought against the idealism of the minimalistic movements in 1950s. Kaipiainen introduced ceramic beads to his art in the 60s' and the surface of the object became more important for Kaipianen´s art. This beautiful unique ceramic plate...

Birger Kaipiainen saw the world through a surreal and symbolic filter that made it more joyful, flowerful, and certainly more colourful. However, during times of grief, as when he lost his wife Maggi in 1966, he turned to blues, blacks and violets. Another such period was when Kaipiainen lost his dear friend, the Marimekko's founder and designer, Armi Ratia in 1979. Birger and Armi used to spend a lot of time at her legendary Bökars Mansion that had a wonderful veranda adorned with columns and chandeliers. Armi's loss was reflected in a few of Kaipiainen's works from that period. In those works (see last pics of dishes from the book Kaipiainen by Maria Berg) his interpretation of the duality of life and death was obvious. Also the symbolism bridging the two was present (reflection, bridges, boats, flowing waters). We can also see pansy flowers that he frequently used after the loss of his wife. In this unique dish, Kaipiainen used a lot of the above colours and elements, and just as Armi was the soul of their legendary parties, he introduced the golden harp...

Birger Kaipiainen (1915-1988) was the master of decorative ceramics, known for his ornamental dishes, rich, colourful and with themes from the fantasy world and fairytales, which fought against idealism of minimalism in 1950s. He was inspired by the early Renaissance, Byzantine ornamentation and Orthodox art...

Birger Kaipiainen (1915-1988) was the master of decorative ceramics. He was well known for his rich and colourful ornamental dishes, with themes from the fantasy world and fairytales...

Dish designed by Birger Kaipiainen for Arabia, Finland, 1970s. Stoneware. Unique. Signed "KAIPIAINEN ARABIA" Dimensions: L: 42 cm / 1' 4 1/2'' H: 36 cm / 1' 2"