Skip to content
Skip to content
Finnish Design Logo

Finnish Design

Everything Finnish Design

  • Finnish Design
    • Finnish Design News
    • Design Forum Finland
    • Kaj Franck Award
  • Finnish Designers
    • Finnish Designers A-H
      • Aino Aalto
      • Alvar Aalto
      • Eero Aarnio
      • Sanna Annukka
      • Kaj Franck
      • Klaus Haapaniemi
    • Finnish Designers I-P
      • Kristina Isola
      • Maija Isola
      • Harri Koskinen
      • Maija Louekari
      • Aino-Maija Metsola
      • Anu Pentik
      • Anu Penttinen
      • Mika Piirainen
    • Finnish Designers Q-Z
      • Armi Ratia
      • Markku Salo
      • Timo Sarpaneva
      • Ilmari Tapiovaara
      • Oiva Toikka
      • Tapio Wirkkala
  • Design Companies
    • Finnish Design Companies A-E
      • Aarikka
      • Arabia
      • Artek
      • Bianco Blu
      • Elinno
    • Finnish Design Companies F-K
      • Finlayson
      • Fiskars
      • Iittala
        • History of Iittala
        • Nuutajärvi Glass Village
        • Iittala Design Philosophy
        • Iittala Designers
      • Kalevala Koru
    • Finnish Design Companies L-Z
      • Lumene
      • Lapuan Kankurit
        • Lapuan Kankurit Weaving Factory
      • Marimekko
        • History of Marimekko
        • Marimekko Designers
        • Marimekko Today
        • Marimekko Products
      • Pentik
      • Rento
      • Tonfisk Design
  • Finnish Products
  • Places to Visit
Finnish Products
toikka glass birds

Toikka Glass Birds

Author ChadLatest UpdateJun 8, 202301660

Oiva Toikka’s first glass birds were born without any formal advanced planning in 1972. Art stepped more formally into the limelight when Nuutajärvi launched its ‘Art’ collection in 1975 and featured Toikka’s Sieppo and the more colorful and larger Kiikkuri birds.

The variations on the Sieppo theme and the Kiikkuri were only a prelude of what was to come. A small golden, green-striped bird created for a small Christmas exhibition mounted by the Nuutajärvi Museum in 1979 attracted the attention of a journalist at the family magazine, “Kotiliesi”, which decided to offer it to its readers instead of a print as in previous years. The bird proved to be a great success. In 1981, Nuutajärvi launched four Toikka birds. The new birds quickly found a loyal following, and it was not long before Toikka’s birds became popular corporate gifts, and the number of these birds now easily outnumbers Nuutajärvi’s own bird collection. Iittala’s mail order service has offered its own special edition birds for a number of years, while the tradition of producing an annual bird was born at the time of the celebrations surrounding Nuutajärvi’s 200th anniversary in 1993. Oiva Toikka has designed these annual birds every year since 1996 when they were made into a collection of their own. The range was updated and named Birds by Toikka, and given a higher marketing profile.

Since the inception of his glass bird creations in the early 1970’s, Oiva Toikka has created over 500 variations of glassblown birds. Collecting Toikka glass birds has become an international activity, with rarities being as eagerly tracked down and talked about as their real equivalents in the ornithological world.

Source: Birds by Toikka Book by Päivi Jantunen (2008) 

Shop for Iittala’s Birds by Toikka:

  • Toikka Glass Birds at GlassBirds.com
  • Oiva Toikka Glass Birds at FinnStyle.com
marimekko phone case collage
Previous Post
January 31, 2020
Marimekko iPhone Cases
Next Post
January 31, 2020
15 Finnish Designs in TV and Film
Origo bowl in Along Came Polly
FinnStylecom

Chad

160 Posts0 Comments

You May Also Like

Marimekko Oiva Dinnerware

Marimekko Oiva Dinnerware

Jan 31, 2020
sarpaneva pot

Sarpaneva Pot

Jan 31, 2020
finnish sauna

Finnish Sauna

Jan 31, 2020
Copyright All Rights Reserved | Theme: BlockWP by Candid Themes.