10.5.-18.8.2019

Exhibition design by industrial designer Harri Koskinen

Professor Oiva Toikka (1931-2019) is one of the leading names in Finnish glass design whose imaginative, rich and bold glass art stands out from the mainstream of Nordic design. Toikka combines inexhaustible imagination with his thorough knowledge of the properties of his material.

This exhibition at the Finnish Glass Museum leads viewers to Oiva Toikka’s surprising and colourful world of fantasy. The exhibits include unique art objects, many of them from private collections and on display to the public for the first time.

Having originally graduated in 1956 as a ceramicist from the Institute of Industrial Arts in Helsinki, Toikka worked as a designer for the Arabia factory until 1959. He began his work as a permanently employed designer at the Nuutajärvi glassworks in 1963. Since then, he has worked in glass, designing popular collections of glass products and unique, one-off works. His wide-ranging artistic activities include set and costume design and spatial works of various kinds.

Oiva Toikka is known for the Birds series, which he has designed for the Iittala glassworks. The handcrafted and unique glass birds are sought-after collectibles around the world. Toikka’s Annual Cubes are also desired by collectors. They are a perfect example of expertise in colour at the Nuutajärvi and Iittala glassworks and the skills of their glassblowers.