TOMORROW’S HEIRLOOMS
This story of the Kartio glass could also be titled ‘60 years and forever young’ or ‘The anatomy of a classic’. Whichever heading you prefer, the Kartio glass had its 60th anniversary in 2018. I marked the occasion with the essay below.
August 2018
In 2008, when I began to work with online sales, PR and branding and speaking about the concept of SLOW, I made the following commitment:
‘We will only make, sell and buy things we cannot do without and which add aesthetic and functional value to the world. Not things that are just a short-lived flirt. A slow product can be a handmade product or an industrial product, it can be expensive or cheap. SLOW represents responsibility in the choices you make as a designer, as a manufacturer, as a consumer. Slow products are tomorrow’s heirlooms.’
Kaj Franck
One example of such a product might be the Kartio glass series from 1958, designed by the Finnish glassware and ceramics designer Kaj Franck (1911–1989). Kaj Franck studied furniture design at the Central School of Industrial Design in Helsinki. After graduating, he had several commissions as an interior designer, decorator and textile designer. Franck was a prolific modernist and functionalist, who ultimately focused on glass and ceramics. He created both art glass and ceramics, but his main passion was democratic design – products that utilize the benefits of industry to achieve a price that is affordable to the many. His Kartio glass series and Teema tableware are quintessential democratic designs. Both series are currently in production by Iittala.
Kartio was originally produced at Nuutajärvi Glass, where Franck was artistic director from 1951 to 1976, while Teema was designed for Arabia, where Franck also played a leading role. Kaj Franck’s original vision was to produce the Kartio series in clear glass, but even before it went into production, he had added smoke-coloured and moss green. Other colours have been added since, just as the size has been continually modified and adapted, always with respect for the intrinsic character of the glass and its strictly geometric modernist design expression.
Iittala’s pride
Glass has the key qualities of reflecting light and revealing its content, because it is transparent. Coloured glass is Iittala’s pride. At Iittala, the colour is added to the molten glass, rather than being applied it to the surface later. As a result, the glass preserves its colour intensity and clarity even after years of use and even if the glass is cleaned in the dishwasher. This requires top-quality glass and craftsmanship. Today, Kartio is made in Finland, north of Helsinki, by the best raw materials and by craftspeople with in-depth know-how. All the production processes are based on several generations’ worth of experience and expertise. At the end of the process, the glasses undergo meticulous quality control and are hand-polished.
You can definitely buy cheaper glasses, also ones that, at first glance, look (almost) like Kartio. However, similar to the fashion world’s concept of ‘price per wear’, in a household context, you might speak of ‘price per use’. With that calculation, no one can afford to buy low quality, and if you include the environmental impact of buying things that only last a short time before they are discarded, high-quality and durable design is the only choice that makes sense.
Kartio glasses are industrial design at its finest – tomorrow’s heirlooms.
Historien om Kartioglasset kunne også hedde 60 år og evigt ung – eller anatomien af en klassiker. Du kan vælge den rubrik, du foretrækker. Under alle omstændigheder fejrede Kartioglasset 60 års jubilæum i 2018 og i den sammen hæng skrev jeg således
Da jeg i 2008 begyndte at arbejde nethandel, PR- og branding og talte om SLOW formulerede jeg mig således:
”Vi vil udelukkende producere, sælge og købe ting, som vi ikke kan undvære, og som tilfører verden en værdi æstetisk og funktionelt. Ikke ting som bare er en flygtig flirt. Et slow produkt kan være et håndlavet produkt, et industrifremstillet produkt, det kan være dyrt, det kan være billigt, SLOW repræsenterer ansvarlighed i de valg, du træffer som designer og som producent og som forbruger. Et slow produkt er morgendagens arvegods”.
Kaj Franck
Et sådant produkt kunne være Kartio glasserien fra 1958 tegnet af den finske glas og keramik designer Kaj Franck (1911–1989). Kaj Franck studerede oprindelig møbeldesign på Central School of Industrial Design i Helsinki, og efter endt studie havde han flere opgaver som indretningsarkitekt, dekoratør og tekstildesigner. Franck var modernist og funktionalist, og yderst produktiv og keramik og glas endte med at blive hans materiale. Han skabte både kunstglas og keramik, men først og fremmest var han var han passioneret optaget af at lave demokratisk design, altså design som udnytter industriens produktionsfordele til at nå en pris, som giver tilgængelighed for de mange. Et demokratisk produkt er er netop, hvad Kartio glasserien og stellet Teema er. Begge serier produceres i dag af Iittala.
Kartio blev oprindeligt produceret på Nuutajärvi glasbrug, hvor Franck i en årrække mellem 1951 og 1976 var kunstnerisk leder, og Teema blev tegnet til Arabia, hvor Franck også slog sine folder. Kaj Francks oprindelige vision var, at Kartioglasset skulle produceres i klart, men allerede inden det kom i produktion, havde han tilføjet røgfarvet og mosgrønt. Siden er flere farver kommet til, ligesom størrelsen løbende har været justeret og tilpasset. Alt i omsorgsfuld respekt for glassets iboende natur og dets strenge geometriske modernistiske formsprog.
Iittalas stolthed
Glas har den særlige egenskab, at det reflekterer lys, og at det er transparent og udstiller indholdet. Det gennemfarvede glas er Iittalas stolthed. Gennemfarvningen betyder, at glasset bevarer sin farveintensitet og klare overflade selv efter lang tids brug, og selv når glassene vaskes i opvaskemaskine. For at opnå dette er glassets kvalitet og håndværkerens kompetencer afgørende. Kartio fremstilles i dag af iittala i Finland nord for Helsinki af de bedste råvarer og af håndværkere med stort know how. Alle forarbejdningsprocesser baserer sig på flere generationers erfaring og ekspertise. Fremstillingsprocessen afsluttes altid med en minutiøs kvalitetskontrol og med, at alle glas håndpoleres.
Du kan helt sikkert købe billigere glas, også glas som umiddelbart (næsten) ligner Kartio. Lige som man i modeverdenen taler om ”price pr wear”, kan man i sin husholdning tale om ”price pr use.” Set i lyset af det regnestykke har ingen råd til at købe dårlig kvalitet. Medregner man miljøaspektet ved at købe og smide ud, så er langtidsholdbart design i god kvalitet en selvfølgelighed.
Kartio er industrielt design, når det er bedst – morgendagens arvegods.
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