Designing Nature Wirkkalaís Works Express Finnish Flair for Creativity by Heather Nalbone A line of text from the curator at the Embassy of Finland best encapsulates the spirit of artist Tapio Wirkkalaís works: ìWirkkala is the quintessence of Finnish design.î To the untrained eye, many of the artistís pieces are unassuming and, in some cases, ordinary. His designs, now on display in the traveling exhibit ìTapio Wirkkala: Design Legend From Finland,î include everything from mass-produced vodka bottles to sophisticated cocktail glasses, many of which have become common household indulgences in Finland since their origination in the í50s and í60s. His glassware is so prevalent, in fact, that an embassy employee on duty one recent Saturday afternoon singled out the very set he and his wife had purchased shortly after their wedding more than a decade ago. ìThey were modern then, and they are modern now,î he said of the tumblers. Those glasses and others now bear the name of a stylish global brand that is as familiar to the Finnish as is the name Wirkkala. His countrymen hailed the artist as a symbol of postwar international success, which is reason enough to visit ìDesign Legend.î The exhibit, on loan from the Finnish Museum of Art and Design, is the first comprehensive presentation of Wirkkalaís vast range of works. The display is not an exhaustive one, but it is diverse enough to give visitors a taste of the various styles of industrial art widely celebrated in Finland. Wirkkala is best known for the way he shaped glass, but porcelain, wood, silver, steel and plastic were also among his items of choice. Although many other well-known Finnish designers of the same era kept to more traditional styles, Wirkkala experimented with new ideas, laminating plywood into a smooth leaf-shaped bowl and molding stainless steel into an endless series of kitchen utensils. He often turned his attention to the simplest of everyday objects, crafting dozens of handle variations, for instance, for a single pipe or coffee mug. His pieces are an excellent match to the embassy building itself, which is a product of the Finnish tendency to meld nature and industry. Just as glass walls and ceilings create a Frank Lloyd Wright effect by blending the structure with the surrounding trees, Wirkkalaís pieces are an outgrowth of his admiration for the outdoors. As a sculptor and industrial artist, he used inspiration from natural settings to mold graceful and flowing objects out of birch, sterling silver, crystal and any number of other materials. A smattering of plywood structures are fine examples of the artistís love affair with nature. None of the sculptures is meant to represent any particular object, but the shape of each swirls to imitate the flow of a whirlpool or breeze. Throughout the exhibit, several displays depict how a waterfall or mountain range can serve as original backdrops to various creations. The bushy-bearded artist did not limit himself to any one style or form, as the collection clearly portrays. He was equally enthralled with inventing and economizing space, as evidenced in pictures of a toothpaste-filled travel-size toothbrush. Such innovation is the reason why many of Wirkkalaís designs are still in production today, and it was a driving force behind the embassyís determination to showcase his work before the display moves on to England, Portugal and Italy. ìTapio Wirkkala: Design Legend From Finlandî runs through June 13 at the Embassy of Finland, 3301 Massachusetts Ave., NW. For more information, please call (202) 298-5800 or visit www.finland.org. Heather Nalbone is a freelance writer in Silver Spring, Md.