Helena Tynell 'Bora Bora' Vase

A 'Bora Bora' vase, designed by Helena Tynell for Riihimäen Lasi Oy, Finland, 1971.

Helena Tynell’s cheerful and tactile mould-blown vases are characterised by unconventional silhouettes, moulded decoration and, typically, the use of bold colour. While connected to Tynell’s wider body of moulded designs, this delightful Bora Bora vase is highly unusual by comparison. Rather than employing a single saturated hue, the piece has been “flashed” with a range of delicate tones: blue, green, pink and amber - creating a subtle iridescent effect within the crystal-clear glass of the vase’s swirling centre.

We have always thought that this piece is Tynell's interpretation of the Aurora Borealis. Certainly, aesthetically it's a match, and, rhythmically, the name also seems to relate.

However, Bora Bora is, of course, a small South Pacific island northwest of Tahiti in French Polynesia.

Furthermore, in Finnish, the Northern Lights are called Revontulet, which translates to 'fox fires' or 'fox's fires', stemming from a myth from Sámi folklore about a magical fox in Lapland whose tail sparks create the aurora.

Never the less, this quietly experimental vase is a fantastically refined piece by Tynell which has been expertly hand-made by the skilled glassblowers of Riihimäki.