Timo Sarpaneva 3594 Egg Shaped Vessel

A model TS 3594 bud vase, designed by Timo Sarpaneva in 1957 for Iittala, Finland.

Standing just 7.5 cm tall, the vase has a compact egg-shaped form composed of two contrasting colours of glass.

The piece was produced using the technically demanding incalmo technique, whereby two separately blown sections of glass are joined whilst hot to form a single vessel. Originating in Murano, the process requires considerable precision, with the adjoining sections carefully matched before they can be successfully fused together.

Here, the almost imperceptible join between the two colours gives the little vase a beautifully unified appearance, allowing Sarpaneva's simple form and contrasting glass to take precedence.

Within mid-century Nordic glass, the incalmo technique is perhaps best known through Tapio Wirkkala's later 'Bolle' vessels, produced by Venini from 1966 onwards. Sarpaneva's TS 3594, designed almost a decade earlier, provides an interesting earlier example of the technique within Scandinavian glass.