Page 33 - Issue 29 - VE Magazine

homeware
Riihimäki
A PIECE OF FINNISH GLASS MAY BE THE PERFECT FIN(N)ISHING TOUCH SAYS WOO GILCHRIST
AT A VINTAGE FAIR, a stunning piece of glass catches your eye. Its vibrant colours remind you of the blues and greens of sea, sky and seaweed, or the yellow hues of sand or a lava-hot red from the bowels of the earth. Odds on it’s Finnish!
You may not realise just how many examples of Riihimäki glass you have seen without knowing what it was at the time. Fitting in perfectly with a Mid-century interior, it can add pure drama to the simplest of spaces.
The story began in 1910 in the town of Riihimäki, where the Riihimäki glassworks was founded by M.A. Kolehmainen and his son, making domestic and contain- er glass and also, from 1919, bottles and window glass. In 1927 they bought the Kaukalahti glassworks in greater Helsinki, becoming the largest glass factory in Finland. Renamed Riihimaen Lasi Oy in 1937, the company took on designers for their decorative homeware glass. Over the next few decades their chief design team included Aimo Okkolin, Helena Tynell, Nanny Still and Tamara Aladin, joined by freelancer Erkkitapio Siiroinen in 1968.
In the 1980s the glassworks was bought by Ahlstrom and merged with Karhula and renamed Ahlstrom Riihi- maen Lasi Oy, and by 1990 the Riihimäki story was over.
Luckily for us, pieces are still available at reasonable prices from fairs, glass dealers, and online, so it’s fairly easy to start a collection, though identifying Riihimäki glass can sometimes be difficult – if you’re really lucky you might find a signature and the acid stamp of Riihimäki on the bottom!
Highly desirable is Riihimäki ‘cased glass’, in which the coloured glass appears to have been encased in a protective shield of clear glass – sometimes two colours are used. So if you get your hands on a piece like that, don’t put it down!
Particular shapes identify their designers, so learn to tell the dice-shaped vases designed by Erkkitapio Siiro- inen from the hooped vases of Tamara Aladin. Once you get a sense of their style, you can build your collection by designer, shape or colour – displayed as a group Riihimäki glass looks simply stunning.ve
‘Once you get a sense of their style, you can build your collection by designer, shape or colour’
Useful websites:
www.20thcenturyglass.com www.nationalglassfair.co.uk
www.vintagexplorer.co.uk
ve / August-September 2016 / 33
Aimo Okkolin
Tamara Aladin
Nanny Still
Helena Tynell
Tamara Aladin
Tamara Aladin
Tamara Aladin and Aimo Okkolin