Jack Dawson et al.

In this lavishly illustrated publication Tapio Wirkkala’s objects in glass and silver have been given the treatment they so richly merit. In his native Finland the designer is highly esteemed and has influenced many who have come after him. Beautiful pieces are juxtaposed with personal exhibition and workshop photographs, the whole completed with instructive sketches and essays presenting the way Tapio Wirkkala sets to work and how he chooses his materials. The upshot is luminously elegant utilitarian objects and delicate one-off pieces. The designer began to show work as long ago as at Documenta III in 1964.
 
The author Jack Dawson is a specialist in Scandinavian glass. He curated the comprehensive show of post-war Finnish glass as well as the exhibition Innovation and Diversity: 75 Years of Swedish Art Glass and is the author of the catalogues of both exhibitions. He also lectures on Scandinavian glass worldwide.

Exhibition: GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts Leipzig, Germany, 2/6/2016-3/10/2016