Gunnel Nyman (1909-1948)
glass and furniture designer
Gunnel Nyman (née Gustafsson) graduated as a furniture designer from the Central School of Arts and Crafts in 1932. She worked as a lamp and light fixture designer for the Taito company from 1932 to 1936 and designed furniture for the Boman firm between 1936 and 1938. In the 1930s, Nyman already began to design glass for different glassworks, and she became Finland’s leading glass designer of the 1940s. Nyman was successful in a design competition held by the Riihimäki glassworks in 1933, and she was employed as a designer by the glassworks until 1947. She also designed pieces for other glassworks: for Karhula in 1935-1937, for Iittala in 194-1947, and for Nuutajärvi between 1946 and 1948.
At least during the Nuutajärvi years, she worked together with the glassblowers. This was something new and special at the time, especially for a woman designer. But it permitted her to experiment and make a closer study of the opportunities afforded by glass. This was the basis for the Finnish glass design launched by her work. The new design achieved its brilliant victories in the 1950s at the Milan Triennials and other international exhibitions.
Gunnel Nyman also designed textiles, silver, ceramics and wallpaper. She won the first prize in a competition held by the Tampereen Tapettitehdas wallpaper factory in 1930, and a woven rya textile by her was purchased in a rya competition of the Friends of Finnish Handicraft in 1931. She was also successful in furniture-design competitions, receiving first prize in a standard chair design competition held by the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design in 1931, and the design competition for the main prize of the Society’s annual raffle of 1932. The main prize was a combined dining-room and living-room set of furniture. This project marked the beginning of Nyman’s collaboration with the Keravan Puusepäntehdas furniture manufacturers. She also designed furniture for the Boman company, among other firms. In 1945, she again had the opportunity to design a set of living-room furniture as the main prize of the annual raffle of the Society of Crafts and Design. It was made this time by the Liljamaa cabinet-making firm of rowan, a species of timber that was utilized in the post-war years of shortage and scarce materials. Nyman worked parallel in furniture and glass design until her death at an early age.
Gunnel Nyman’s glass art received prizes at the Milan Triennial of 1933 and the Paris World’s Fair of 1937, and posthumously at the 9th Milan Triennial in 1951, where Finnish design made its international breakthrough. She held a joint showing with Dora Jung in 1938 in the exhibition rooms of the Museum of Applied Arts that were located in the Stockmann department store. The exhibition went on tour to Gothenburg and Oslo in 1948. Gunnel Nyman’s memorial exhibition was held in the autumn of 1948 in connection with the annual applied arts exhibition in Helsinki.
Auli Suortti-Vuorio
Bibliography:
Gunnel Nyman. Suomen lasimuseon tutkimusjulkaisu.The Bulletin of the Finnish Glass Museum. Lasitutkimuksia – Glass Research IV. 1987.
Koivisto, Kaisa, Kolme tarinaa lasista. Suomalainen lasimuotoilu 1946-1957. Suomen lasimuseon tutkimusjulkaisu. Lasitutkimuksia – Glass Research XIII. Vammala 2001.
Poutasuo, Tuula, Modern Glass Design: Artists and Designers. In: Visions of Modern Finnish Design. Ed. Anne Stenros. Otava. Keuruu 1999.
Mathiesen, Birgitta, Gunnel Nyman. Modernism in Finnish art glass. Form Function Finland. Vol. 2 / 1987
Photos:
A set of furniture
This set of furniture for combined living-room and dining-room use was the main prize of the 1932 raffle of the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design. Gunnel Nyman (Gustafsson at the time) had designed all the furniture except the coffee table, which was by Maija Heikinheimo. The furniture was made by the Keravan Puusepäntehdas company. The woven rya textile included in the main prize was made at the Friends of Finnish Handicraft and it, too, was designed by Gunnel Nyman, as also a clock and a lamp belonging to the prize. The winning ticket was bought in Helsinki.
The Streamer vase
(Nuutajärvi Glassworks 1947) The vase is of freely blown uncoloured clear crystal. There is a white band of filigree glass rising in a spiral within the vase. Photo Design Museum
