To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the design icon, Iittala introduces a grey colour to Alvar Aalto collection. The smoky and harmonious hue complements the Iittala autumn colour palette that is designed to bring a delicate aesthetic to any home.

Alvar Aalto created his classic series of glass vases in 1936. He touched upon something special with the free-formed vase collection he created for the Karhula-Iittala glass design competition. The objects were not only revolutionary in form, marking a change from the material’s strong tendency towards the geometric, but they also left the user free to decide what the purpose of the object should be.

The vases were first introduced at the Paris World’s Fair a year later, marking a key moment in the industrial design career of Alvar Aalto.

There are various interpretations of Aalto’s inspiration for the free form of the glass; for many, the shapes represent the thousands of lakes in Finland, with their winding shorelines. Being a playful person, Aalto perhaps wanted to confuse observers by naming his competition entry ‘Eskimo woman’s leather trousers’. Whether this name was based on the true design inspiration or was merely a fun play with words, nobody knows.

A design icon

The Alvar Aalto Collection has been a staple of modern Scandinavian design ever since 1936, and remains the most iconic series in the Iittala range. It is today the best known and most iconic glass design in the world.  Each and every vase in the Alvar Aalto Collection is mouth-blown at the Iittala glass factory in the hands of the most skilled blowers. It takes seven craftsmen, 12 work stages, 1100 °C and 10 hours to produce a single Aalto vase. With unwavering pride, these craftsmen are committed to bringing Alvar Aalto’s unconventional shapes to life.

Created in a wide range of colours and sizes, a vase from the Aalto Collection is a pleasure to own or give as a gift. Today, the collection consists of not only vases, but also steel bowls, wooden platters and votives. The new dark grey addition to the classic range celebrates the anniversary of this design hero. The colour is available in the most popular sizes of the Alvar Aalto collection, on sale at www.skandium.com as of September 2016.

Alvar Aalto

Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) is widely considered one of the masters of modern architecture and design. He was a functionalist who developed his unique style by combining rational architecture with a vividly organic idiom. Aalto’s furniture for Artek and the glass vase collection for Iittala are loved by design audiences all around the world.

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Further Press Information:
Lizzie Colville / Jeffrey Cheung, Caro Communications
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