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Set of Serving Cutlery Designed by Tapio Wirkkala, Finland, 1950s

About the Item

Set of serving cutlery designed by Tapio Wirkkala, Finland, 1950s. A set of serving spoons and olive forks. Measures: Forks: L 26 cm/ 10 1/8" Spoons: L 36 cm/ 14 1/8" Provenance: From the collection of Heikki Jänkävaara. Jänkävaara worked as a model maker and created this set as a prototype for production. The prototype was never put into production. Tapio Wirkkala (1915-1985) can be described as one of the icons of Finnish design and a symbol of the international success of post-war Finnish design. Tapio Wirkkala studied sculpture at the Helsinki Central School of Industrial Design from 1933 until 1936, but he was also a self-studied artist in many areas, including glass design. His success as a glass artist began in 1946 when he designed one of his most famous works, the Kantarelli vase, for Iittala. Wirkkala gained worldwide success in 1951 at the Milan Triennial, where he received three Grand Prix awards: for the exhibition architecture, glass design and wooden sculptures. Tapio Wirkkala felt a deep relationship with nature and his absolute favourite spot was located in Finland's deepest forests. From the beautiful landscape, Tapio Wirkkala could find inspiration for his works, often characterised by organic shapes. Leaves, birds, ice and water are recurring themes in his design. Tapio Wirkkala was also a furniture designer and a sculptor. He started his career as a sculptor in the 1930s but abandoned the traditional sculpture in the post-war years – in the early 1950s, alongside with other works, he started to develop an entirely new relationship with sculpture and a new technique to be used. The result was a series of unique plywood sculptures which combined form and movement in the vibrant, densely lineated surface of plywood. Wirkkala’s sculptures represented exceptional abstractism and gave Finnish sculpture art a new direction at a time when the official line preferred monuments and heroic sculptures. In the years 1951-1954, Wirkkala worked as the artistic director of Helsinki Central School of Industrial Design. In 1955 he received a Pro Finlandia medal and in 1972 the Academy of Finland's honorary title of academician.

Creator:
Tapio Wirkkala (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 14.18 in (36 cm)Width: 3.15 in (8 cm)Depth: 0.12 in (3 mm)
Sold As:
Set of 8
Style:
Scandinavian Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Wood
Place of Origin:
Finland
Period:
1950-1959
Date of Manufacture:
1950s
Condition:
Seller Location:
Stockholm, SE
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU1006619144312
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Tapio Wirkkala

Along with architect Alvar Aalto, the designer Tapio Wirkkala was Finland’s leading contributor to the Scandinavian interpretation of modernism in the mid-20th century. Prolific and innovative, Wirkkala excelled in a wide range of fields, including glass, furniture, porcelain, jewelry and tableware. The hallmark of his talent was an ability to impart a craft aesthetic based on natural forms — leaves, ice, bubbles, birds — to industrially produced designs.

A native of Helsinki, Wirkkala studied at the national School of Applied Arts and took up a career in graphic design. After serving in the Finnish army during World War II, he joined the glassmaking firm Iittala, an association that would continue to the end of his life. Wirkkala learned every aspect of glassmaking in keeping with his belief that an artist-designer should be involved in all stages of production. His best-known works for Iittala are vases and drinking vessels that resemble either carved ice or icicles. In 1956, Wirkkala began a long relationship with the porcelain maker Rosenthal, for whom he designed elegant table pieces, such as the Finlandia coffee service and the biomorphic Pollo vases.

House Beautiful magazine declared Wirkkala’s Leaf platter the “most beautiful object” of 1951. (The acclaim led to his brief employment stint with industrial designer Raymond Loewy in New York.) That platter was one of the first designs Wirkkala made using laminated sheets of plywood sanded to a smooth surface that resembles an abstract leaf. It would go on to become a motif in many Wirkkala furniture pieces — most notably in inlaid coffee tables for Asko — and in a sense these are the works most emblematic of his personal aesthetic.

Wirkkala was a traditionalist in many ways, but he had a modernist’s practical approach, incorporating his leaf-like spirals into simple, functional objects. That is the core attraction of Wirkkala’s designs: They stand out with a striking, sculptural energy yet blend in as part of a warm and comfortable decor.

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