Bottle thumbnail 1
Bottle thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 140, Factory Ceramics

Bottle

1985 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The Arabia ceramics factory was founded in 1873 near Helsinki. It was established by the Swedish company Rorstrand to enable them to take advantage of lower import duties for Russian markets, but was sold off to a Finnish company by 1916.

In the 1930s, an Art Department was founded at Arabia under the leadership of artistic director Kurt Ekholm. Though sometimes the artists contributed designs for production pieces, they also created hand-made studio ceramics. These studio ceramics were included in world exhibitions and competitions, boosting the factories' reputations and doing much to foster the international fame of Scandinavian design.

Pekka Paikkari joined Arabia in 1983. This bottle and its partner (C.56-1988) were included in Paikkari's exhibition 'Varjoostuksia' held at the factory's own gallery in 1985.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Stoneware, sprayed with speckled glazing
Brief description
One of two bottles of porcellaneous white stoneware, thrown and formed with spray brown/black glazes, made by Pekka Paikkari at Arabia, Helsinki, Finland, 1985.
Physical description
One of two bottles of white stoneware, thrown and formed with spray brown/black glazes.
Dimensions
  • Height: 35.6cm
Marks and inscriptions
'PEKKA' (Incised)
Production
Made by Pekka Paikkari at Arabia
Summary
The Arabia ceramics factory was founded in 1873 near Helsinki. It was established by the Swedish company Rorstrand to enable them to take advantage of lower import duties for Russian markets, but was sold off to a Finnish company by 1916.

In the 1930s, an Art Department was founded at Arabia under the leadership of artistic director Kurt Ekholm. Though sometimes the artists contributed designs for production pieces, they also created hand-made studio ceramics. These studio ceramics were included in world exhibitions and competitions, boosting the factories' reputations and doing much to foster the international fame of Scandinavian design.

Pekka Paikkari joined Arabia in 1983. This bottle and its partner (C.56-1988) were included in Paikkari's exhibition 'Varjoostuksia' held at the factory's own gallery in 1985.
Bibliographic reference
Opie, Jennifer Hawkins. Scandinavia: ceramics & glass in the twentieth century. London: V&A Publications, 1989. 69 p., ill. ISBN 1851770712.
Collection
Accession number
C.56A-1988

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Record createdJanuary 25, 2008
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