The Kaj Franck Design Prize 1998
Designer Heikki Orvola
Heikki Orvola (born 1943) is a versatile designer working in glass, ceramics, cast iron, enamel and textiles. He has designed manufactured and one-off works from collections of glassware to glass sculpture, and from printed fabrics to art textiles.
Heikki Orvola has been a professional designer since the late 1960s. His career in industry began in 1968, when Kaj Franck hired him as a designer for the Nuutajärvi glassworks. Well-known one-off works in glass by him include Maya (1995) from the Pro Arte collection, along with the Aurora and Herttua designs in utility glassware and the Kivi lamp.
Familiar ceramic works by Orvola are the Carambola vase, a one-off design from 1996 and the Festivo and Andante tableware services, as well as the 24h collection, which proved to be a great commercial success. Orvola's most recent work is the Illusia service designed together with Fujiwo Ishimoto in honour of the Arabia factory's 125th anniversary.
In the late 1980s Orvola designed richly coloured printed fabrics with profuse patterns for Marimekko. A 15-year state grant has permitted freedom to work in design, alongside ongoing cooperation with both the Arabia and Nuutajärvi factories.
International contacts are important for Heikki Orvola, who was invited to design a decorative object for Alessi's Tendentse collection and a vase for the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum in Italy. Works by Orvola are in numerous museums around the world and he has held several solo exhibitions in Finland and abroad. Orvola has received many distinctions and awards for his work both in Finland and internationally.
Heikki Orvola participated in Design Forum's Classic Makers exhibition in 1995, and his works were on show in 2000 in Finnish Design 125 Years, the anniversary exhibition of the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design. Heikki Orvola received the Pro Finlandia medal in 1984.