Mid2Mod: Arabia

Showing posts with label Arabia. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

A new grail

I've had my share of Holy Grails. One by one, I've either bought them for myself or my SIL has bought them for the store, so at least I got to enjoy them for a time.

My last one became somewhat of an obsession. I was determined to find a small white Pollo vase by Tapio Wirkkala. Some of you are thinking, "What's the big deal? Those turn up all the time." And you're right. They do. But I wanted to find one on eBay or Etsy (because I don't have the patience for estate sales or thrift stores), and I wanted to find one in perfect condition for under $50 (a number I pulled out of thin air). That made the quest a little more challenging, but I finally found one, which is now sitting pretty on a shelf in my bathroom, along with a Kingfisher, also by Wirkkala, and a beautiful glass bird that looks very much like a Dino Martens piece...although I haven't been able to verify that yet.

What does someone who is slightly obsessive do when there's nothing to obsess about? That's simple. She turns to her friends, who helpfully point out new and more elusive items to chase. This time, the wonderful Pippa of Ouch Flower put me onto my newest pursuit: an Arabia of Finland ceramic bird by Howard Smith.

Make that two birds. I want one in white, as well as one in black. And I want them for considerably less than $200+, which seems to be the going price these days.

White bird by Howard Smith for Arabia of Finland
ebay.com - vital_forms

Black bird by Howard Smith for Arabia of Finland
modcats.com

These come in different colors and different poses, but the forward-looking black and white ones, which stand 8.5" tall and 9" long, are what I want...although I have to admit that some of the others are delightful.

laatutavara.com

ebay.com - walkingtan

So let the hunt begin! It may take a while, but someday two of these birds will join my growing collection.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Birger Kaipiainen

Birger Kaipiainen (1915-1988) was a Finnish ceramic artist. He was born in the town of Pori, but the family moved to Helsinki a year later. By the time he became a teenager, it was clear that he was intelligent and artistic, but he was not doing well in school, especially in mathematics.

His mother contacted a friend at the Ateneum's Central School for Applied Arts, and Kaipiainen was enrolled. While studying there, he balked at the teaching of functionalism and refused to strip his work of all decoration.

In 1937 he took a position in the Arabia art department, where he very soon distinguished himself. He worked for Arabia until the end of 1953, when he moved to Sweden to work briefly for Rörstrand. That company was supportive of his art and arranged an exhibition trip to New York for him in 1955. During this period, he began to use vivid colors and was strongly influenced by Surrealism. In 1958 he returned to Finland and went back to work for Arabia. He officially retired in 1981, but he continued to work almost daily at his studio at the Arabia factory. He died at the end of a working day on July 18, 1988.

His best-known ranges for Arabia are the Paratiisi and Apila dishware collections. Apila was reintroduced into the Arabia collection in 2006. Kaipiainen, called "the prince of ceramics" by his peers, won a Grand Prix at the 1960 Milan Trienniale for a group of bead birds. He is given credit for playing a major part in earning Finland world recognition and respect in the field of modern applied art.

From kansallisbiografica.fi, finnishdesignshop.us and deconet.com

Apila dinnerware
scope.ne.jp

Paratiisi tureen with lid
finnishdesignshop.co

Sunnantai oval plate
kuppi.jp

Ravenna cup and saucer
005.upp.so-net.ne.jp

Iridescent art plate
kuppi.jp

Relief
suomenpankki.fi

Art plate
jacksons.se

Beaded art plate
bukowskis.com

Beaded bird
askart.com

Table clock
bukowskis.com

Pronunciation Guide

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Kaj Franck

Kaj Franck (1911-1989) graduated as an interior architect from the department of furniture design of the Central School of Applied Art in 1932. After graduating, he worked as a window dresser and interior designer for a department store in Helsinki and designed textiles.

In 1945, he was employed as a designer by the Arabia porcelain factory in Helsinki, and was the head of Arabia’s model design department from 1946 to 1961. Franck also designed for the Nuutajärvi glassworks from 1950 to 1976 and served as the factory’s artistic director from 1951 to 1976.

Kaj Franck was also an instructor at the Institute of Applied Art from 1945 to 1960, and senior instructor and artistic director of the school from 1960 to 1968. He held the position of artist professor from 1973 to 1978.

In his work as a designer, Kaj Franck sought simple, practical and timeless forms. He was a proponent of anonymity in the design of utility items. In a 1966 article, he noted that ”an object must survive upon its own conditions instead of the designer’s name, and design is an important part of those conditions.” In unique pieces, however, Franck felt that the designer’s name should be seen.

Kaj Franck renewed the Finnish tradition of tableware design with his Kilta service, which was made by Arabia from 1953 until 1975. Kilta reappeared in 1981, revised to meet current requirements, as the Teema collection. One of Kaj Franck’s best known collections of glassware is Kartio (1958-1975), which is also in renewed production.

Franck participated in numerous exhibitions both in Finland and abroad, winning numerous prizes and honors from the 1950s through the 1980s. In 1992, Design Forum Finland established the Kaj Franck Prize, awarded annually to a designer working in the spirit of Kaj Franck.

From finnishdesign.fi

Pitcher
violettendencies.com

Kartio glassware
krrb.com

Kremlin Bells decanter
artfact.com

Vase
home-and-garden.com

Morning in Athens glass curtain
wright20.com

Bullseye bowls
starkeld.com

Origami server
violettendencies.com

Flattened Prism vase
burgh-le-marshfurnishings.co.uk

Pronunciation Guide

Friday, January 14, 2011

Another find: Arabia's Kilta by Kaj Franck

I was checking my local Craigslist for something else that looked promising, and I ran across this ad:

Unique 50's Art Deco Serving Dishes.
Antique dealer said the white one is worth a lot. Just don't know who to take it to.
It is very unique!

How do you see something like that without having to check it out? You're pretty sure after reading the description that the seller is clueless about the item. Someone has already told her it's valuable, but she hasn't taken the time to check it out, so you simply have no choice except to rush over and grab it before someone else does...or before she finds out more about it and raises the price like the seller of the Aalto chair did earlier this week.

In this case, "the white one" turned out to be a Kaj Franck design for the Finnish tableware company Arabia...the large Kilta gravy boat complete with lid and in unblemished condition. I had mentioned Kaj Franck only briefly in a previous post but thought the piece looked familiar, so I did some research, and I was right.

Arabia started producing the Kilta collection in 1953. In its time, it was considered a “revolution in the cupboard." The tableware was stackable and had interchangeable lids, which was quite a departure from traditional settings, as well as very convenient for small post-war housing. The original Kilta pieces were available in white, black, green, blue and yellow. Brown pieces were produced later for a short period. Production of Kilta ended in 1975, but in 1981 Franck and his team relaunched the series to present-day specifications, currently marketed under the name Teema. (My gravy boat was marked 1-68 on the bottom, so I'm assuming that's when it was made, roughly halfway through the production years of the Kilta line.)

Armed with this information and money in my hand, I was ready to go. The only problem was the seller's location. I'm on the far west side of Fort Worth, and she is in one of the suburbs on the far east side of Dallas..."local" in only the broadest sense of the word. Still, I jumped in my trusty Jeep and made the 120-mile round trip for a single gravy boat.

As I said to a fellow blogger recently, "Ah, the things we do for vintage!"

The seller was originally asking $25 for the piece, but I ultimately got it for $10, so I'm feeling fairly optimistic that I'll make money on the deal, even considering what I spent on gas. Here's a picture of it, taken very professionally in the seat of one of my dining room chairs with a black fleece jacket as a backdrop. We do the best we can with what we've got. :)