Tommi Ketonen (Born 1970)

Glass artist Tommi Ketonen specializes in unique solid glass sculptures made using the grail technique. Ketonen designs and makes all the sculptures himself. The colorful sculptures often conceal female faces and have an organic form and a distinctive style. Ketonen's works have a pop-art character that is influenced by tattoo culture. The watchmaker's craftsmanship and goldsmith's skills are reflected in a certain unwavering precision in his glass art. As a tattoo artist, Tommi Ketonen brings a certain openness to using colours and handling molten glass. Each sculpture has a unique color combination that creates a background and inspiration for the engraved and blown motifs in the glass. In the final stage of the working process, when the glass mass is melted, the outer surface coating of the sculpture is brought into its final form by gravity and rotational movement, without tools. The resulting free organic form takes on an aesthetic natural beauty and an optic that contributes to the whole work. It takes at least a week to complete a single sculpture due to the many cooling and heating phases as the material is extremely sensitive to the slightest disturbance in the manufacturing process.
The Tommi Ketonen Gallery is located in the historic glass village of Nuutajärvi.
Tommi Ketonen has received the honorary mention of Luxembourg Pinacothéque "Recognition of achievements and encouragement to continue in this direction" 1.12.2021 and 1.12.2022.