Definitely "Made in Finland": original design ceramics made in small workshops
By Raija Forsström
A ceramics workshop in Helsinki’s Mäkelänkatu owned by three female potters is full of finished and half-finished works. The ceramic artists Natalie Lahdenmäki, Sarita Koivukoski, and Jatta Lavi have co-owned the workshop for some 10 years.
The works designed by the three artists are entirely hand-made and certainly very Finnish.
Design Forum Finland recently awarded Finnish-French artist Natalie Lahdenmäki the Young Designer of the Year 2008 Prize, which is given to a promising young designer. Lahdenmäki shared the prize with the talented Finnish-Japanese furniture and fashion designer Naoto Niidome.
The colleagues are happy about Lahdenmäki's success, while also competing with each other. During the ten years together, each of them has maintained her own design approach.
Sarita Koivukoski’s works are more roughly made and more colourful than the pottery made by the other two ceramic artists.
She designs mostly ceramic dishes, and her angular plates and bowls are unique in their thick glazing and colourful patterns.
At present, Koivukoski is working on a new type of design, a cup made of narrow ceramic bands to serve as a candle holder. She hopes that she will manage to turn her new prototype into a feasible product.
Jatta Lavi may be best known for her porcelain milk cartons, with the larger one resembling a one-litre carton and the smaller one looking like a half-litre carton.
The thin-walled porcelain of these cartons is very white and translucent like all her articles: cups, schnapps mugs, bowls...
The works by Natalie Lahdenmäki are not translucent, yet they are very light. Their coloured glazing surface is delicate, allowing one to see the clay beneath it.
Among the three artists’ works, Lahdenmäki’s ceramics include the most functional items. It is easy to imagine that one could eat or drink from them at least in a festive occasion.
The small workshop produces ceramic objects which are undeniably Finnish. This qualification carries a significant value in itself.
Today, a consumer can no longer be quite so certain about the domestic origin of products made by such famous and ur-Finnish glassware and ceramics manufacturers as Arabia, Iittala, or Pentik. A ceramic article may very well have been made in Portugal or Asia, while wine-glasses may come from Germany or Hungary.
Examples of such articles include the Taika dinnerware set designed by Finn Klaus Haapaniemi that was launched on the market last year. It is almost entirely of foreign origin. The same applies to the Essence and Senta glassware range designed for Iittala by Argentinian Alfredo Häberli.
What about the materials for hand-made domestic ceramics? Are they Finnish as well?
Lahdenmäki, Koivukoski, and Lavi would like to use only Finnish materials, but it is no longer possible.
Feldspar can still be found in the Lohja moraine ridge, but kaolin is no longer mined for this purpose in Finland. Today, white clay comes from England and Germany, while the manufacturing of traditional Finnish red clay came to an end recently, as its only producer - Kultalan Tiiliputki - closed down.
Unique, one-off pieces made by the three ceramic artists are sold in upscale design shops. Yet the prices of these products are not dizzyingly high.
”In this country anything that is hand-made is easily regarded as the poor man’s stuff”, sighs Natalie Lahdenpää.
”Prices cannot be high. However, we are happy that our works are accepted as design objects and handicrafts alike”, she adds.
Among contemporary designers, sculptor Kim Simonsson is an exception, with his ceramic works depicting large imaginative human and animal figures and ceramic sculptures. Simonsson was chosen the Young Artist of the Year in 2004.
A unique dish is a really good and valuable gift, as it represents individual hand-made art, which is available across the country.
The price range varies from a few euros to tens of thousands, depending on the object.
It is worth bearing in mind that a novice artist does not want to set his or her prices too high. And yet one day their names could be found among internationally recognised artists.
Ceramics shops:
Hand-made Finnish ceramics are available in the following shops:
Artebia, Hämeentie 135 A, www.artebia.fi
Artisaani, Unioninkatu 28, www.artisaani.fi
Design Forum Shop, Erottajankatu 7, www.designforum.fi
Galleria Norsu, Kaisaniemenkatu 9, www.norsu.info
Jonk, Kiseleff’s House, Aleksanterinkatu 28, www.kiseleffintalo.fi/jonk.html
Sami Rinne Design, Runeberginkatu 35, www.samirinne.fi
Shop Amfora, Bulevardi 11, www.amfora.net
Shop Designmuseo, Korkeavuorenkatu 23, www.shop.designmuseum.fi
Taidekäsityökauppa Okra, Unioninkatu 26, www.okra.fi
Udumbara, Kaarlenkatu 15, www.udumbara.fi
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 30.5.2008
Links:
Design Forum Finland
RAIJA FORSSTRÖM / Helsingin Sanomat
raija.forsstrom@hs.fi
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| 3.6.2008 - THIS WEEK |
Definitely "Made in Finland": original design ceramics made in small workshops
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