IITTALA BOOK

IITTALA – book – Phaidon Press Limited

First published in 2021 – edited, written and designed together with Florencia Colombo

The first book to comprehensively document the 140-year history and influence of Iittala, Finland’s legendary design brand and glassworks.

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This book is a celebration of Iittala’s one-hundred-and-forty-year history. Such historical progression does not follow a linear path but rather a complex network that is deeply interwoven with Finland’s twentieth-century geopolitical and sociocultural conditions. Founded as a glassworks in 1881, Iittala soon became immersed in the core of Finland’s industrial and creative development, while participating in the delineation of the design field of the Nordic region. Today, evolving perspectives introduce new questions about design, manufacturing, food cultures,rituals and living environments. Beyond contextual changes, the flux of aesthetic and ideological movements and consequential shifts in ways of life, the history of Iittala reveals a continuity of deep-rooted values connected to craftsmanship, creativity and social conscience, as well as the preservation of traditions linked to Finland’s inherent dialogue with nature.

 

 

 

 

Publisher: Phaidon Press Limited

Authors: Florencia Colombo, Ville Kokkonen

Copyright © 2021 Phaidon Press Limited
Text © Iittala

Cover image:  Gunnel Nyman, model no. 9697, 1935-1938