- Aalto Vase
The Aalto Vase, also known as the Savoy Vase, is a world famous piece of
glassware and an iconic piece of Finnish design created byAlvar Aalto and his wifeAino Marsio .The vase was originally designed as an entry in a design competition for the
Ahlström owned "Karhula-littala" glassworks factory in 1936. The design was inspired by the dress of a Sami woman. Called "Eskimåkvinnans skinnbyxa" (theEskimo woman's leather breech), the design was comprised of a series of crayon drawings on cardboard and scratch paper. Aalto created initial prototypes by blowing glass in the middle of a composition of wooden sticks stuck into the ground, letting the molten glass swell on only some sides and creating a wavy outline. The vase was originally manufactured by the glassworks factory using a wood mold which was slowly burned away.This vase was later displayed for the 1937 World's Fair in
Paris .The "Savoy Vase" name is the result of the purchase of the vase, and rights to the design, by the Savoy Restaurant in
Helsinki . Aalto never made money with the vase, because the design belonged to the factory for which the design competition entry was produced.The vase has been manufactured in nearly a full spectrum of colours. The simplicity of the vase continues to be popular in the 21st century. Smaller versions of the vase, just as Aalto designed them with the seams visible and a slight curve at the base, are still produced by glasspressing at the "
Iittala " glass factory in Iittala, Finland. Larger versions are made using Aalto's design, but without seams.External links
* [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2360/jm-eng.aalto.html Essay on the vase and photograph.]
* [http://www.finnstyle.com/gifts-vases-aalto.html Aalto vases by iittala.]
* [http://www.aalto.com Alvar Aalto designs.]References
* "Alvar Aalto: The Complete Catalogue of Architecture, Design and Art." Göran Schildt. New York: Rizzoli International, 1994.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
