4/25/2007

Arthur Percy

Swedish painter , glass- and ceramics artist, born in 1886. From 1923 worked for Gefel. Eugen Trost was also woking for Gefel at the same time. In 1963 Gefel was bought up by Upsala-Ekeby though he continued to work for the new company . He also worked with Gullaskruf glassworks since 1952. Died in 1976. His major works are Smide, Variant, and Lillemor.

Lillemor

4/20/2007

White casserole pot by Seppo Mallat

Until recently this enamel saucepot made by Finel (Later Arabia)was said to be designed by Antti Nurmesniemi. Though my friend interviewed his wife Vuokko and found out it wasn’t his design. Now it is said to be designed by Seppo Mallat who worked in Antti's Studio in 1963.The saucepot by Finel is very light and easy to use though the wooden handle saucepan made by Arabia is quite heavy. There are many colour variation and also decoration with this type.

Made by Arabia of Finland

4/16/2007

The Bird bottle by Timo Sarpaneva

Timo Sarpaneva is said to be one of the three best designers in Finland. The other two would be Kaj Franck and Tapio Wirkkala. He created graphics, textiles, glass (iittala), ceramics (Rosendahl) and metals. One of his great graphical work that he has done would be the company logo “i “ for iittala in a red circle. This logo was created for his glass collection called i-line in 1956, for which he received one of his Grand Prix in Milan.
 The bird bottle was made in 1956 as the i-collection series. The original was hand blown but it was remanufactured in 2003 by machine.The clear type is the one remanufactured and the Gray is the original.








4/15/2007

Antti Nurmesniemi

Born in Finland 1927. His wife is famous textile designer Vuokko Nurmesniemi. In his early age he went to a film school. In 1947 he entered in Design Art School. From 1951 he worked as a furniture and interior designer in an architect studio until he stared his own Nurmesniemi studio in 1956. Serve as the chairman of Ornamo for 4years from1967.Started teaching at University of Art and Design Helsinki. For 3years from 1989 served as chairman for ICSID. Died in the year 2003.The coffee pot was made by several companies. In the beginning Wärtsilä and then from Finel and the last from Arabia. I have heard that the Coffee pot will be reproduced this coming spring but do not know from where it will be reproduced…

Works
1952 Sauna Stool for Palace Hotel
1957 Enamel Coffee pot for Wärtsilä
1959 Won Lunning Prize
1982 Subway car for Helsinki
1985 Telephone for Fujitsu
2003 High voltage power plants
Ferry boat etc.

4/14/2007

Factory Marks of DANSK

I have tried to verify the marks of DANSK but couldn't find any books or magazines mentioning about them. This is MY point of view so if you have yours please let me know...:-)  In 1954 Kobenstyle Enamel pots were produced. These days the mark was with four ducks and under them it said Designs Denmark JHQ. The difference between the latter DANSK is that the inside of the casserole lid as well as the bottom of it is all in the same enamel color.

After that the factory moved to France. The mark says DANSK INTERNATIONAL DESIGNS LTD IHQ FRANCE . The difference between the former one is that the color inside the lid is white and the bottom is gray like the picture.And most recently Dansk has moved the factory to Indonesia (I have seen some made in Thailand.) which I do not have any photos. Sorry!






4/13/2007

Jens H Quistgaard/ Demark

Jens H.Quistgaard was born in Copenhagen Demark in 1921. His father was a sculptor and his mother was a painter. He himself was a sculptor , ceramic artist, carpenter and a draughtsman. He used to assist his father at world famous silversmiths, Georg Jensen. He won Lunnig Prize in 1954. In the same year he established a new company known as DANSK. He had mostly designed the product for DANSK for about 30years. He went back to Demark at the age of 63.His well known products are Kobenstyle Enamel Pots/DANSK 1954 as well as Classic Teak Wood Ice Basket/DANSK 1960.

Kobenstyle Enamel Pots/DANSK


Teak Tray/Dansk