Timo Sarpaneva (1926-2006) Finnish, Art Glass "Orkidea" Sculpture. Iconic design first conceived while he was at Iittala in 1953, it has a distinctive conus shape with an open bubble in the middle that takes extreme skill to control. Can be used as a bud vase. Signed and numbered 3568 on the underside. 

Size: 5 x 5 x 2 in. 

Timo Tapani Sarpaneva was born on October 31st, 1926 in Helsinki, Finland into a family of blacksmiths, and graduated from the Institute for Industrial Arts in 1948. Shortly after he began to work with glass he won the Iittala competition in engraved glass and was hired by the company in 1951 as a designer and director of exhibitions, winning his first Grand Prix at the 1954 Milan Triennale for his clear glass series and embracing colored glass in a series of plates, bottles, and other decorative objects that won him a second Grand Prix in 1957. He began to teach at his alma mater in the late 1960s, including a course in linoleum block printing for students of textile design, and became full professor in 1976 after they had renamed themselves Aalto University and awarded him an honorary doctorate. He worked as an artistic director for the Swedish textile company Kinnasand between 1964 and 1972, after which he started a long-term association with the German porcelain producer Rosenthal, and commuted weekly between Helsinki and Murano in Italy for six years in the 1990s, making mostly sculptures with the Venini glassmakers and the renowned craftsman Pino Signoretto. Sarpaneva worked intermittently with glass, metal, wood, textiles, ceramics, and porcelain (china) throughout his life, and is still considered one of the most influential Finnish designers, sculptors, and educators in modern Finnish history. Since his death on October 6th, 2006 his pieces have become more and more sought by collectors, even the most utilitarian and basic of which frequently find a market due to his long impact on Scandinavian mid century modern aesthetics.

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