Alvar Aalto, A '3030' stamp signed vase Alvar Aalto. Iittala, 1980's
"Lagoon blue" glass. Height 16 cm.
 
Every Aalto vase is handmade by 7 glassblowers and needs 12 work stages in 30 hours.
 
Alvar Aalto created the Savoy Vase design in 1936. The model is based on Alvar Aalto's sketch "Eskimoerindens skinnbuxa" (Eskimo woman's leather trousers), which won the Karhula-Iittala glass design competition in 1936.
 
The Savoy vase was used inside the Savoy restaurant in Helsinki, which was designed by Aalto. The model was originally blown in a wooden mould and since 1954 it has been produced by Karhula in a cast iron mould. The vase was transferred to Iittala in 1949, where it was given the product number 3030. It has been produced in heights of at least 50, 85, 95, 120, 140, 150 and 160 mm.
 
Iittala's signatures were made from the 1940s to the late 1960s with diamond pens in capital letters (although the letters "a" in Wirkkala and Sarpaneva, for example, are sometimes in lower case). After the diamond pen, the rotary blade engraver was used. It is the case for this vase. Since 1982, some objects have been signed by sandblasting.
 
The oldest and most valuable Aalto vases, made in the 1930s, are 14 centimetres high, those made in the 1950s are about 15 centimetres high and those made after 1957 are 16 centimetres high.
 
This colour is not produced anymore.
 
The Aalto vase is the best-known Finnish design object. It is also one of the most famous and revered glassware in the world. Aalto’s classic has earned a place in permanent collections of museums around the world including New York’s MoMa.
 
The colours of the vases change seasonally and the collection also includes a series of Aalto inspired products designed by Pentagon Design, a Helsinki-based design studio.