DesignerFinnish
Tapio Wirkkala
28 active items
Tapio Veli Ilmari Wirkkala was born on 2 June 1915 in Hanko, Finland. He studied ornamental sculpture at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in Helsinki from 1933 to 1936. Wirkkala's breakthrough came in 1946 when he won a competition held by Iittala glassworks with the biomorphic Kantarelli vase. He was appointed artistic director of Iittala in 1947. Over four decades he designed more than four hundred glass objects for the company, including the Tapio drinking service of 1954 and the Ultima Thule collection of 1968.
At the 1951 Milan Triennale he was awarded three Grand Prix prizes. His leaf-shaped plywood serving tray was named the most beautiful object of 1951 by House Beautiful. From 1956 onward he collaborated with Rosenthal, designing eight tableware services. Between 1966 and 1972 he worked with Venini on Murano.
Wirkkala's working method was inseparable from the materials themselves. His formal vocabulary drew consistently from Finnish nature: the striations of ice, the curve of a mushroom cap, the grain of birch plywood. He designed the Finlandia vodka bottle in 1970 and banknotes for the Bank of Finland.
He died on 19 May 1985 in Helsinki. With nearly 600 lots currently tracked on Auctionist, Wirkkala remains among the most actively traded Finnish designers.