Viola Gråsten (1910-1994) was a leading Finnish textile designer. Her most well-known pattern is probably Oomph (pictured at the very top of the montage above) which was printed in a number of colourways.
Some of the fabric patterns that she designed include Sparv (1959) and Hassel for Ljungbergs; the striped Snark blankets (see above) for Tidstrand; Tulipuu, Såpbubblor, Casa (1954) and Kalas (1955) for Swedish department store, Nordiska Kompaniet (NK) and Pelagonia (1965) and Kastanj (1966) for Mölnlycke Tuppen AB.
Her eye-catching rug designs produced for Elsa Gullberg’s Textiles and Interior in Stockholm have come to be known as Gråstens colours. She also produced a great many rug designs for the aforementioned, NK Textilkammare.
There are currently a number of her textile designs available on Etsy – including rugs, blankets and lengths of fabric.
In this week’s Designer Desire, it’s the turn of yet of another individual from the hugely talented Arabia stable, Gunvor Olin Grönqvist (1928-2005).
During our action-packed week in London a fortnight ago, we spent a sunny afternoon at the V&A exploring their splendid glass, ceramic and metalware galleries. They had a fair few modernist Scandinavian examples on display, including a couple of sculptural pieces by Olin Grönqvist (see top right image).
She worked at the Finnish ceramic firm for her entire professional career, which spanned 1951 to 1992. She was responsible for designing many of the company’s enduring patterns including Fructus, Köökki, Kosmos, Sirpa, Löyly (Steam), Sauna, Nimeton (Anonymous), Nooan Arkki (Noah’s Ark), Kengu, Valpuri, Soraya, Atelje, Haarikka (tankard), Tea For Two, Mimmi, Mamselli, Laura and Emma.
You can find vintage examples of her crockery and serveware readily on eBay and Etsy.
This month, we bought a pretty little brooch – silver with what look to be amber cabochons – that we didn’t know anything about. We guessed it was Scandinavian and made sometime in the 60s/70s. When we got it home, we pulled out the magnifying glass and had a look at its hallmarks.
There were 5 separate marks on the back that told us everything we needed to know:
We’d not come across this manufacturer before so we thought it would make another good Designer Desire subject. They mainly produced jewellery in varying fineness of silver, bronze and semi-precious stones so their pieces are very affordable. I’ve seen a simple bronze pendant for only 15€.
As expected, pieces are mainly available in Finland; however, you can find them on eBay, Etsy and specialist vintage Scandinavian jewellery sellers such as Caratia and Samantha Howard Vintage. If you’re interested in the brooch we have – drop us a line – it’s available for sale!
Today’s Designer Desire focuses on Finnish architect, Matti Suuronen (1933–2013). However, please forgive me for focussing on one of his designs in particular, the Futuro. You see, there’s a very local twist to its story, an example of the building was actually built here in Todmorden!
2018 sees the 50th anniversary of the Futuro. It was the start of the architect’s ‘Casa Finlandia’ series which also included the CF-100/200 ‘huoltoasema’ or service station (1969), CF-10 ‘kioski’ / kiosk (1970) and CF40/45 Venturo (1971). The numbers after the names refer to the structures’ square metreage.
The Futuro, which measures 26 feet in diameter, was launched publicly in March 1968 and went on to be displayed the following year at the Finnfocus Export Fair in London. The reinforced plastic Futuro was initially designed to be an alpine cabin or holiday home (snow would simply slide off the curved structure). It was lightweight and consisted of modular pieces that could be easily assembled and airlifted into place (see photos!).
The one and only Todmorden example was manufactured by Waterside Plastics in its Waterside Mill factory – a 1-minute stroll from our house. The company, previously Fielden Brothers, was a textile mill until it turned its efforts to plastics manufacture in 1960. Apparently the cabin was used for a few years as Waterside Plastics offices and then became a visitor information centre in town (in the grounds of the recently demolished Abraham Omerod medical centre) until it ended up in the Lake District. No one seems to know its fate after that. The photos on the first 4 rows of the picture collage at the top show the Tod Futuro.
96 Futuros were produced in total (half in Finland and the other half in various other countries), but it’s believed that only around 30 still survive… in various stages of condition. They had a short production run due to rising costs brought about by the oil crisis in the early 70s. In 2017, one came up for sale in New Zealand with a price tag of $400,000 NZD (around £205,000). This blog post goes into details about where many of the survivors are located.
Only 19 examples of Matti Suuronen’s Venturo (above) were ever made
The CF-100/200 service station or ‘huoltoasema’ (above) designed by Matti Suuronen
In 2003, a (very pricey) book was published entitled, Futuro: Tomorrow’s House from Yesterday. It includes a half-hour documentary on the cabin, the trailer to which is included in our playlist below.
An exhibition begins next month (6 June 2018 to 17 February 2019) at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art which stars the Casa Finlandia range along with other futuristic architecture of the past.
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