Timo Sarpaneva’s Claritas Collection Reborn by Iittala
As the Iittala glassworks celebrates its 130th Anniversary, the Claritas collection by Professor Timo Sarpaneva (1926–2006) is being blown back into life – with all the unattainable colours, which Sarpaneva could only dream of in the 1980s, now glowing in statuesque forms. The Claritas collection was born at the Iittala glassworks in 1983. This happened in a workshop where new methods of mouth-blowing were being developed and new glass blowers trained. Timo Sarpaneva led the work, together with master blower Reino Löflund.
Initially, the glassblowers made pieces of glass jewellery with a small air bubble inside. When Sarpaneva saw these pieces, he posed the blowers the challenge of creating the biggest bubble possible inside the glass. This is said to be the Claritas collection’s moment of birth. In a burst of creativity, Sarpaneva created the Claritas method of embedding air bubbles, which reflect light like concave lenses, in glass.
The original collection included 63 different works of art, all approved by Sarpaneva. Three different versions of these pieces have been available in Iittala’s present-day selection. To celebrate its 130th Anniversary, Iittala will introduce Claritas art pieces never seen before, these will include seven delicate pieces of glass art and one special, numbered version.
Iittala Claritas Collection, by Timo Sarpaneva
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
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