‘Bastard cooking’ is a term coined by two nomads: Finnish chef Antto Melasniemi and Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija, who kick authenticity’s ass in their recently released ‘Bastard Cookbook’. They show what happens when rules are broken and cultures collide, and what flavours make beautiful marriages: pad thai macaroni, curry pizza, fish sauce ice cream, sticky rice and strawberries with Finnish archipelago bread.
Argentinian-born Alfredo Häberli is a 55-year-old, Swiss contemporary industrial designer. Häberli manages to unite tradition and innovation in his design, much of which is influenced by his early childhood in Argentina as well as his curiosity about everyday life. We meet with Alfredo to discuss his ongoing collaboration with Iittala.
In the early 1980s French born Nathalie Du Pasquier was one of the young founding members of the Milan-based Memphis collective. From their groundbreaking debut in 1981 until the dissolvement of the group in 1987, Nathalie worked as a designer, creating textiles, carpets, plastic laminates, furniture and objects. Her pattern designs—a fusion of geometrical and organic shapes in strong colour explosions—played a visible part in defining what Memphis was.
Sand, the main component of glass, has an internal structure that is somewhat close to that of a liquid—it has the order of a solid, peppered with the randomness of a liquid. Its duplicity and beautifully awkward nature are the most visible in the crashing waves of the seas and oceans of the world.
In light of an upcoming collaboration with Iittala, we sat down to chat with British designer Jasper Morrison to discuss why creating the right atmosphere is essential to his work.
A former garage in Stockholm’s Södermalm district functions as the studio of Matti Klenell, known for his distinctive glass art and designs for companies like Iittala, Moooi and Källemo. It’s a space that allows for creative experiments and acts as a base for the designer in between his many travels. We sat down with Klenell to talk about creativity, inspiration and his most ambitious project to date—the new restaurant at Sweden’s renovated national gallery.
We visit the Iittala factory with one of Finland’s finest glass-blowers, Heikki Punkari — who grew up at the factory and has worked with the likes of Timo Sarpaneva —to discover the magic of molten glass and what it takes to become a master of this craft.
As the collaborator—and wife—of the late Timo Sarpaneva, Marjatta Sarpaneva had a front-row seat to the history of Finnish design for decades. We met her at the family’s private gallery to hear stories about Timo Sarpaneva and the beauty of glass.
So small was the budget for the Finnish Pavilion at the 1951 Milan Triennale that hiring local technicians to build it was out of the question. The pavilion’s designer and curator Tapio Wirkkala had no choice but to construct it himself together with his skilful carpenter. One morning he arrived on site to see that someone had spelt the consoling words “Viva Finlandia” in the dust on a sheet of glass.
Hanging on the wall of the information area of the Paimio Sanatorium in Turku, Finland, a framed painting catches visitors’ eyes. With its multi-coloured patches, laid out in a large, open V-shape, the painting looks like a work of abstract art. Closer examination, however, reveals that this is, in fact, the floor plan of the sanatorium – and represents a colour map of the original tones used in different parts of the hospital.
