IITTALA
Type: Launch Event / Installation / Performance
Collaborator: IITTALA
Location: KTH Reactor Hall, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
Status: Completed
Photos by: Alex Savander
We creatively partnered together with Iittala, the iconic Finnish glassware brand, to deliver a vision for the company’s new era with Janni Vepsäläinen taking over as Creative Director.
Hosted at KTH Reactor Hall, the site of Sweden’s first nuclear reactor, guests took a journey underground into a dark tunnel space illuminated by Iittala’s signature yellow color. The iconic yellow hue of the brand was one of the key design elements we sought to highlight when working on the spatial design. Expressed through lighting and reflective surfaces, the presence of the color tied the separate elements of the space together. There was an overall feeling of warmth; guests were taken on a mysterious journey, where Iittala emerging into a newfound era was the defining feature.
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Hosted at KTH Reactor Hall, the site of Sweden’s first nuclear reactor, guests took a journey underground into a dark tunnel space illuminated by Iittala’s signature yellow color. The iconic yellow hue of the brand was one of the key design elements we sought to highlight when working on the spatial design. Expressed through lighting and reflective surfaces, the presence of the color tied the separate elements of the space together. There was an overall feeling of warmth; guests were taken on a mysterious journey, where Iittala emerging into a newfound era was the defining feature.
Instead of immediately focusing on glass as the finished product, we took it back to the initial state of the element: sand. Being the primary state of glass and used by Iittala throughout the brand’s history, we wanted the material to be a defining feature of the installation and performance. Mounds of white sand dotted around the space were decorated with reflective podiums and Iittala's unconventional glassware.
The unique glass pieces featured in the event were created by Vepsäläinen and Damsel Elysium, exclusively for the performance. Damsel is a London based multi-instrumentalist and artist who used Iittala’s bespoke pieces for her experimental sound and visual performance, creating a soundscape in the space.
The unique glass pieces featured in the event were created by Vepsäläinen and Damsel Elysium, exclusively for the performance. Damsel is a London based multi-instrumentalist and artist who used Iittala’s bespoke pieces for her experimental sound and visual performance, creating a soundscape in the space.
A huge sandbag suspended from the ceiling with a stream of sand released out of the bottom created anticipation. We devised this part of the installation as a way to inspire a feeling of suspense relating to the new era: an hourglass effect counting down to Iittala’s re-emergence but also representing timelessness in terms of the nature of the forward-thinking brand. We consciously built a connection between sand as the raw material and glass as the final product –– allowing visitors to immerse themselves in Iittala’s production process.
