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Tapio Wirkkala

(Finland, 1915-1985)
Estimate
75 000 - 100 000 SEK
6 750 - 8 990 EUR
7 120 - 9 490 USD
Hammer price
120 000 SEK
Covered by droit de suite

By law, the buyer will pay an artist fee for this work of art. This fee is 5% of the hammer price, or less. For more information about this law:

Sweden: BUS
Finland: Kuvasto

Purchasing info
Image rights

The artworks in this database are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the permission of the rights holders. The artworks are reproduced in this database with a license from Bildupphovsrätt.

For condition report contact specialist
Eva Seeman
Stockholm
Eva Seeman
Chief Specialist Modern and Contemporary Decorative art and design
+46 (0)708 92 19 69
Tapio Wirkkala
(Finland, 1915-1985)

a laminated birch plywood dish, Finland 1950's.

In the shape of an elongated leaf, signed TW, length 60,5 cm.

Minor stains.

Literature

Marianne Aav, "Tapio Wirkkala eye hand and thought", WS Bookwell OY, Porvo Finland 2000. Pp 223-231.
Tapio Wirkkala was introduced to laminating wood by the Finnish family Soinne who had a factory making plywood for aircraft propellers.
He made his first objects in laminated plywood in 1948 and true to his way of working, he took inspriation from nature in creating objects in this material as well. The first objects were the smaller objects as leaf-shaped dishes. Later he moved onto more sculptural bigger shapes as well.

Designer

Tapio Wirkkala (1915-1985) rose to world fame in the early 1950s following the breakthrough of Finnish industrial design. He was an exceptionally prolific artist who mastered almost any material and designed both everyday objects and unique works of art.

Wirkkala graduated as a decorative carver from Taideteollisuuskeskuskoulu (the School of Art and Design) in 1936, after succeeding in various design competitions, he began to gain a reputation as a pioneer of glass and silver. One of Wirkkala's most important partners in the silver industry was Kultakeskus, whose production he renewed in the 1950s. During the three decades of cooperation, Wirkkala designed a large number of products for Kultakeskus, many of which were forged by hand.

Tapio Wirkkala worked for several companies simultaneously on both serial production and more individual design work. Despite the variety of design tasks, certain themes can be seen repeated in his production. Wirkkala drew inspiration from the landscapes of Lapland, where he lived with his family for part of the year. The busy artist did not compromise on his travels to Lapland under any circumstances, and he travelled to the north regularly to explore nature and seek inspiration. The forms of snow and the melting ice was the inspiration behind many of his glass objects, and the shapes of boats and leaves came to serve as an inspiration for several silver objects, such as the TW9 silver bowl, which was commissioned and handcrafted for Kultakeskus.

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