Alvar Aalto’s most famous vase will become as large as a building

1936. A sinuous and asymmetrical silhouette, far from the rigors of the Bauhaus and closer to the shape of a plant or the jagged shoreline of a lake, is the glass vase signed by Alvar Aalto. The young Finnish architect has already made a name for himself in Scandinavia, Europe, and worldwide with the project for a tuberculosis sanatorium, which secures him a place, along with his wife and partner Aino Marsio, among the most important modern architects of all time. The Savoy vase, which owes its name to the restaurant that Aino and Alvar designed together — where it still occupies the center of each table — is a design icon that does not merely represent an original shape, but invents a new way of arranging cut flowers that aligns, in certain respects, with the practices of Ikebana.

On the occasion of 3daysofdesign in Copenhagen, Iittala, the glass company that has always produced it, celebrates the first ninety years since its birth. In collaboration with Hydro — a leading brand in aluminum processing — the company will create a large pavilion to be installed at the edge of Copenhagen’s harbor.

Janni Vepsäläinen, Creative Director of Iittala

For Aalto 90 (the project’s name), aluminum will be the material of choice and the form will be the unmistakable shape of the Savoy vase, reproduced on a giant scale. Seven meters high, the structure is designed to be disassembled and rebuilt elsewhere, demonstrating that “temporary” does not necessarily mean “disposable.” The installation will allow visitors to literally step inside the organic and unmistakable perimeter of that object, where the new Aalto City vase collection will be presented, a new Iittala series inspired by different cities around the world.

The aim is to celebrate the anniversary, but above all to investigate-through a form so successful that it is still in production despite being far from the logic of “standards” -a sensitive and human way of conceiving design. “Alvar Aalto challenged the conventions of the time, creating an object that expresses intuitive and free design, the spirit of which is still inspiring,” said Janni Vepsäläinen, Creative Director of Iittala.

The choice of Hydro Reduxa aluminum — a low-emission material produced with renewable energy on the western coast of Norway — is linked to its infinite recyclability and its ability to guarantee a smooth surface that best describes the complexity of the curves. The material is extruded into finished profiles fixed to each other, giving the structure a continuous look free of visible joints. “Bringing Alvar Aalto’s vase to a seven-meter scale requires both the right material and proper engineering skills; the properties of extruded aluminum profiles make it the ideal choice. This project demonstrates that it is possible to create a large-scale structure with a low carbon footprint and fully recyclable,” says Asle Forsbak, Marketing Director of Hydro Extrusions.