Moar Romantica!

The Iittala Romantica collection is growing. In addition to the mini-coupes and bigger coupes (on the left), today the post delivered sets of wine and water goblets (right). Or red and white wine glasses... Although they might occasionally hold cocktails, too!

The Romantica line was designed by Tapio Wirkkala in 1963 and produced until 1972. It came in 4, 6, 8, 15, 17, and 25 cl sizes. [Those equal about 1.4, 2, 2.7, 5, 5.7, and 8.5 ounces. In addition to the stemmed glasses, the line also included stemless old-fashioneds.]

Iittala Marski

I live vintage Iittala glasses and have a hard time resisting them. This is the Marski pattern designed by Tapio Wirkkala. They're very similar to the Romantica, but shorter, and the stem is thicker. They're sort of the Romantica's burlier brother. They were in production from 1959 to 1980, but some online research shows they may have had a limited reproduction period around 2000 - those had the Iittala mark etched onto the glass (the foot, probably), while these vintage ones are unmarked.

Iittala Romantica

We stumbled on this Iittala pattern on etsy and love them! They were designed in 1963 by Tapio Wirkkala and manufactured from 1963-1972. We have two sizes now - this one is about 4 inches across and holds about 5 ounces; we also have smaller ones that hold about 3 ounces. This might be one of my favorite Iittala designs!

Orrefors Glass Viking

A birthday present. :)

Iittala Essence Coupes

I have wanted a set of coupe glasses for years, but it has been hard finding the perfect ones. I saw that Iittala came out with a coupe a while back and, combined with our new cocktail book, it was finally time to get them.

Iittala Alvar Aalto Vase

Some much-needed spring.  Iittala vase designed by Alvar Aalto in 1937, which I still find amazing because it is remains so modern!

Norway and Finland

Some more Christmas:  Hadeland glass nissen and tree, glass ornaments with the Taika pattern by Iittala, and an embroidered linen from Norway with dompapen on it.  (I love those little bullfinches, and apparently they can be kept as pets... but I don't think the cats would appreciate just looking at them.)

Happy New Year!

My partner and I spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home with duck a l'orange and farro, and dessert in front of the fireplace from a pastry shop nearby.  We're sort of home-bodies, but one of my New Year's resolutions is: more dinner parties!  ...at least one a month seems reasonable - and then we'll get to use our dinnerware more often. :)

About the pictures:  It was sort of a Danish/Finnish night.  We used our Nissen Rune dishes and Dansk Fjord silverware, both designed by Jens Quistgaard.  The glassware is Iittala - Ultima Thule for the water, Aarne champagne flutes, and Essence cordial glasses for a dessert wine (I found out recently that we can no longer get the cordial size in the Essence pattern, although they are still on the Iittala website (where they are called "Sweet Wine")).  Dessert is on a Dansk teak tray (also Quistgaard).

The little red espresso cups were a Christmas present from my parents by Heath Ceramics.  I love how Heath fits in so nicely with Scandinavian design.

Fall into Winter

The end of the year certainly has a lot going on!  Between Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's, the mundane parts of life seem to have taken over.  I'm also starting to wonder if my focus here on ceramics is too limiting, and if that's why my updates here have been so sparse of late.  As I look around my house, I realize there are Scandinavian influences everywhere - so, I think in the new year I'm going to start sharing a little bit more than just ceramics (well, I'm going to make it official...I've already had a few non-pottery posts).  

About these pictures:  We used a few different Dansk candleholders for the first time - the brass candlesticks in early December, and the taper crown for Christmas dinner.  

We also completed our collection of Lisa Larson Advent candleholders.  The marks on the bases are not all the same:  the boys have the original Gustavsberg marks, but the girls are marked Rörstrand.  

Christmas Eve dinner was at my parents' house on their lovely Porsgrund Hearts and Pines.

Taisto Kaasinen Vikings

Our Taisto Kaasinen Viking family continues to grow - we just found the metal one in the front.

Drinks

Some summer libations.

The wine coaster is Norwegian pewter by Havstad Tinn - marked on the bottom with the company name and "93% T".

Ikea has had some really fun glassware designs the last few years, which means that we have a lot of cocktail glasses.  We had margaritas the other evening in these fun glasses.

A few months ago I posted about how cold it was.  Today it was 116º warmer!  But nothing cools you off like a negroni on the patio in an icy Ultima Thule glass.

 

Dansk Glass Vases

A non-keramikk post.  Pair of Dansk glass vases designed by Jens Harald Quistgaard.

Jens Quistgaard Relief Candleholder

The history of Kronjyden, Nissen, Bing and Grøndahl seems confusing.  I think Kronjyden was bought by Nissen, which in turn was bought by B&G.  At any rate, this little candleholder is in the "Relief" pattern and was designed by Jens Quistgaard.

The little vase is actually one of the glasses that my partner and I blew at the Hadeland factory near Oslo.

And the cat is Monty.

One of our kitchen shelves with a Nittsjö bird, Rolf Berg tomte, and a Rörstrand covered pot.  Tomorrow the tree is coming down, really.  We got these two flag ornaments this year - the Norwegian flag for my heritage, and the Italian flag for my partner.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!  We had a nice dinner of crab cakes and agurksalat (cucumber salad) with a bottle of Duval-Leroy Blanc de Chardonnay 1998 (the same year my partner and I met!).  The glasses are from the Aarne line by Iittala.

And for dessert we had some fantastic nibblies from a French bakery near us, with some Port and espresso.

I noticed that the Millesgården plates by Rörstrand have a different mark on the bottom than the cups and saucers - they also say "Diamant."  The color of the porcelain was also slightly yellower in the plates.  Hmm.

Nibblies

The snacks we had had tonight before dinner for my parents' birthday.

Brunost on our new Dansk cheese board, with herring in cream sauce in an Elle bowl from Norway; a white bean dip (basically a hummus but with white beans instead of garbanzo beans) in a newer Porsgrund bowl with butterflies with pita chips on a Hadeland glass plate.  And Ikea napkins!

Dessert with Iittala and Rörstrand

Iittala espresso cup in the Ego pattern, aquavit in an Iittala Ultima Thule cordial glass, and a fantastic dessert from our local pastry shop on a Rörstrand Millesgården plate.

Taisto Kaasinen Viking

Taisto Kaasinen designed this ceramic Viking in 1961 for Upsala Ekeby, a Swedish company, before leaving to work for Arabia in Finland.  The viking came in a few sizes, from very small to one over 9 inches tall.  The small glass viking has a very similar shape and features and was made by Lindshammar Glasswork in Sweden.

I should really start showing the marks.  The ceramic viking has an incised mark with the Upsala Ekeby logo (UE), Sweden, a shape number, and the artist's initials (-TK-).  The glass viking has a sticker that says Lindshammar, Sweden, and Handmade.