2024-09-18
19 分钟Since 1881, Iittala has been a pioneering force in artistic and artisanal glassmaking. It’s a legacy the Finnish heritage brand is continuing under the creative direction of Janni Vepsäläinen. In this special episode of ‘Monocle on Design’, we unpack the brand’s workmanship and look at how it bridges the gap between its history and today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This is Monocle on Design, a show where we unpack everything from architecture and craft to furniture and fashion.
I'm Nick Moniz.
On today's special episode, we meet the creative force behind Itala, examining how the 143-year-old Finnish heritage brand is striking the balance between progress and preservation.
All that coming up on Monocle On Design.
Hello and welcome to today's special episode.
Produced in partnership with Itala, it's a brand renowned for its creativity and partnerships with designers such as Alvar Aalto and Tapio Verkola.
Collaborations that have made the Finnish firm a leading light in design.
It's a legacy that we'll explore over the next 20 minutes with Jani Vipsalainen, the brand's newly minted creative director.
Jani joined me at Helsinki Design Week with this conversation recorded from Italy's exhibition space in the Alva Aalto designed house of culture.
I'm Jani, I'm the creative director here at Itala and my background is in luxury fashion.
I worked in several different luxury houses before this big job and my specialty was knitwear.
So actually you might think first that what's the connection between knitwear and heritage glass making?
But actually there's quite a lot of parallels and the biggest in my case, I would say is that as a designer, I've always been intrigued by the craft and being very close to the material.
And when I started my studies a long time ago, I kind of accidentally stumbled into a fashion course.
I don't know how it happened, but I did.
And the first two years was really difficult.
I just could not understand why I was doing there, what was expected of me.
And then I found knitting.
And that was sort of like this light bulb moment, the moment when I realized that I could technically do whatever I could with very sort of little material and choosing my own material.
And when I visited Itala glass factory during the interview costness for this role, I got the same light bulb moment because there I was watching the glass blowers crafting this molten material and I sort of had that same epiphany that being so close to that material and crafting and using your hands and even concretely using your body, blowing that glass.