my design fix

A is for Aalto

This will be the first in a series of 26 posts on modern design icons – one for each letter of the  alphabet (inspired by the Alphabet of Design Classics Poster by Blue Ant Studios.)

Aalto Vase (1936)

The Aalto Vase (also known as the Savoy Vase) is a world famous piece of glassware created by the renowned Finnish architect, Alvar Aalto (1898-1976).

The vase was designed as an entry in a design competition for the Karhula-Iittala glassworks factory in 1936. As a result Aalto never made money with the vase, as the design belonged to the factory.

It also became known as the Savoy vase because it was one of a range of custom furnishings and fixtures that were created by Aalto for the luxury Savoy restaurant in Helsinki that opened in 1937.

Aalto’s design for the vase was inspired by the clothes of a Sami woman with his first sketches for the vase playfully titled "Eskimo woman’s leather trousers".

Initial prototypes were created by Aalto 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.

To this day the vase is still manufactured in a large range of colours and sizes at the iittala glass factory in Iittala, Finland.

For more information on the Aalto Vase check out the iittala website here.

Photo via Flickr: Joel Pirela

Related Post:

• Alphabet of Design Classics Poster – Blue Ant Studios