Iittala

Iittala is a Finnish company founded as a glass factory in 1881, in the homonymous village in southern Finland.
In its early years, Iittala produces blown, pressed, polished, painted and etched glass.
Functionality and long-lasting design are at the heart of the company's design philosophy for creating "timeless" objects.

Glass and glass art are still an important part of Iittala's heritage today. One of the iconic objects of Finnish design, the Aalto vase, was created for Iittala in 1936 by Alvar Aalto.

At the beginning of the 20th century the dishes were decorated with a variety of ornaments. Iittala was one of the first companies to switch from decorative objects to functional, aesthetically pleasing objects and progressive Scandinavian design.

The turning point came at the beginning of modernism and functionalism in the '30s and' 40s. Alvar Aalto, Aino Aalto and Kaj Franck lead the development of the Iittala brand. Their belief is that objects should always be designed with the idea of ​​making them available to everyone.

The thought of Aalto and Franck lays the foundation for the design philosophy of Iittala: pushing beyond boundaries and offering people beauty and functionality.

This breakthrough in Finnish design has also changed the ranges of glasses led by Iittala in the '50s and' 60s. A new type of aesthetics and functionality has affected the design of Finnish glass, while most of the other countries still used traditional and extensive glassware. A modern and simplified design has taken the place of the cut crystal.

Iittala products are created to be combined with each other, making everyday life more enjoyable thanks to versatile tableware. The classics created by Finnish design pioneers such as Kaj Franck, Alvar Aalto, Aino Aalto, Oiva Toikka, Tapio Wirkkala and Timo Sarpaneva can be combined with the products of today's talented designers such as Harri Koskinen and Klaus Haapaniemi.

Although Iittala objects have a clean and simple form, making them is far from easy. To create a quality object a great deal of human skills, knowledge of materials, colors and production methods is required.
Highly qualified and experienced glass blowers, designers and other professionals who work closely at each stage of the production process are essential for the realization of these objects.

Together with Iittala, even the brands Arabia and Hackman share the same philosophy of design that lasts over time and are against the throwaway culture.

For Ittala they have designed among others: Aino Aalto, Tapio Wirkkala, Timo Sarpaneva, Renzo Piano, Alvar Aalto, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Iittala Design Team.