Alvar Aalto Vase – 270mm Ultramarine

This mouth-blown lead crystal vase has long been an Iittala best seller but Alvar Aalto himself never saw a cent of the profits. The design rights remained with Iittala whose Karhula-Iittala glassworks factory ran the original design competition that inspired it.

In 1937 Aalto anonymously entered his Savoy Vase in the Paris World’s Fair under the pseudonym “Eskimo Woman’s Leather Breeches” and won. With a name like that they were hardly going to award it to anything else.

The form of Aalto’s vase has become a language of its own with notable references including the Cottbus Library in eastern Germany by Pritzker Prize winning architects Herzog & De Meuron.

Materials: Glass
Height: 27cm
Hand wash only