Tapio Wirkkala Coffee Table

About the Item

Designed for Asko, Finland in 1958. These tables are highly sought after and regarded as Tapio Wirkkala's most important production furniture. Made from hand-sculpted solid elmwood in four parts. Each quadrant is the exact same form which combines into this organic zoomorphic form. These tables were all handmade and only produced in very few numbers. This example in exceptional original condition and untouched. Even retaining the original glass mountings which rarely survive. A true example of useable sculpture. A rare opportunity to purchase a true icon and piece of great importance in terms of Modern Scandinavian Design.

Creator:

Tapio Wirkkala (Designer)

Dimensions:

Height: 19 in (48.26 cm)Width: 46.5 in (118.11 cm)Depth: 23.5 in (59.69 cm)

Style:

Scandinavian Modern (Of the Period)

Materials and Techniques:

Elm

Place of Origin:

Finland

Period:

1950-1959

Date of Manufacture:

1958

Condition:

Wear consistent with age and use.

Seller Location:

Toronto, CA

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU934721968402

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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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