Iittala

The first book to comprehensively document the 140-year history and influence of iittala, Finland's legendary product design brand

iittala is a world-renowned master of Finnish design, producing objects that are as timeless and beautiful as they are essential. Here, for the first time, products and images from different decades are brought together to document the company's growth dynamically from a small glass workshop in a remote village to one of the design world's most recognisable brands. The result: a lavishly illustrated chronicle of iittala's fabulous designs, progressive philosophies, and unique working methods, with incisive texts based on interviews with over 1,000 art-market professionals including artists, gallerists, private art advisers, museum directors, journalists, market researchers, and collectors. This is the first monograph on iittala, an important global creative force that is deeply embedded in both Nordic aesthetic and Finland's cultural, political, and social history, and features the work of such renowned designers as Aino and Alvar Aalto, Kaj Franck, Alberto Meda, Alfredo Häberli, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Jasper Morrison, Claesson Koivisto Rune, Cecilie Manz, Issey Miyake Studio, Konstantin Grcic, Antonio Citterio, and Marc Newson.

Florencia Colombo is an architect and Ville Kokkonen is the director of Ville Kokkonen Office For Industrial Design, a practice driven by technological and scientific discovery. Based in the Swiss Alps, their joint enterprise, Colombo / Kokkonen, specialises in the conceptual, editorial, and design direction of cultural projects. At the intersection of architecture, design, and the social and natural sciences, the practice applies holistic thinking to research, curating, and publishing.