projects
iittala 2008-
Design Project: Birds by Penttinen
In 2005 Iittala proposed an idea to make a new glass bird collection. This was firstly a huge honour but also a great challenge as Professor Oiva Toikka’s bird creations have been extremely popular, treasures of Finnish design and glassmaking tradition, for over four decades. I decided to approach the subject with humour, but first I needed to find an inspirational bird to give these glass objects some quidelines for shape and colour. I was immediately attached to the magnificent Toucans that live in the rainforests. I then added some cartoon-like details, the end result relating to wax animations. The process of glassmaking being quite challenging with specific restrictions and technical requirements, some compromises with patterns and colours needed to be made before final models for mass production were ready. I saw the six birds as individuals each with their own personality, so names to match these characters were in order. The group of birds, ‘The Cartoon Chicks’, launched in March 2008 are: Ippy the Hippie, Nightbird, Cottoncandy, I’m all Bananas, Cool Joe and Snowball!
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