Marianne Aav, Susanna Vakkari, Eeva Viljanen
Oiva Toikka
Moments of Ingenuity
Designmuseo, Helsinki 2010
21 x 25,5 cm, 174 pages
ISBN 978-952-9878-70-3
48,00€

Oiva Toikka is an original and bold experimenter, a rebelious master of Finnish glass. The visual world of his inexhaustible imagination comes alive in his virtuoso works whose character is underlined by their playful names. An unsatisfactory piece will become acceptable in a new work, he does not throw anything away, but instead picks from the archives of his "mistakes" necessary elements for the ever-renewing range of his art - insight and ingenuity from over a period of fifty years.

In the background of Toikka's well-known bird figures, cubes and Flora and Fauna tableware lies unbridled experimentation, unique works of art, and recognition of masterly glassmaking skills. Toikka is an easy-going Karelian with no respect for the laws of art, or so-called good taste. Instead, he lets the material and the therme lead him on. His pieces are miniature stages, a reminder of his work as a set designer. They reveal him to be a bon-vivant, world traveller and seer imbued with curiosity.

Contents

• To the Reader
• Expressive Ceramics
• Jennifer Hawkins Opie: The Unique Artworks
• Lisbeth Landefort: There Can Only Be One Oiva!
• Kaisa Koivisto: The Mass Produsction of Glass Articles
• Chronological Catalogue of the Mass-produced Items in 1958-2008
• Oiva Toikka
• Glassblowers
• Index