Kurt Ekholm (1907-1975)
ceramist, artistic director and rector
Kurt Ekholm studied ceramic design at the Higher Applied Art Section of the Stockholm Technical School in 1928-1931. He entered the service of the Arabia factory immediately after graduating and in 1932 he became artistic director of the Arabia factory. The factory’s art department was established under his supervision to permit designers to concentrate without restrictions on making art ceramics.
Ekholm brought the use of stoneware paste from Sweden, having come to know this material as a trainee at the Rörstrand factory. He was also one of the first in Finland to apply the principles of functionalism in ceramic art. His professional breakthrough as a ceramic designer was a joint exhibition in 1934 in Helsinki with the textile designers Marianne Strengell and Maija Kansanen. The exhibition was entitled ”Vävt och drejat” (Woven and Turned).
At the Arabia factory, Ekholm also designed utility ware, including dinner services. The best-known of these were the AH service, which was made from 1935 until 1939, and the AR service, also known as Sinivalko (Blue and White), made between 1936 and 1940, and again in from 1949 to 1954. Both series were functionalist services of a new type employing simplified forms. Ekholm was also instrumental in launching the production of the so-called Ara ceramics at the Arabia factory in the late 1930s. The Ara products were low-cost ornamental objects for all homes, such as vases, bowls and boxes. Ekholm designed part of the range of products.
Ekholm was the commissioner of several exhibitions of design and applied art where art ceramics from the Arabia factory and Finnish applied art received praise and renown in the 1940s and 1950s. Most of these showings were held in the Nordic countries, which served to integrate Finnish applied art into Scandinavian design. The first major joint exhibition of the Arabia factory’s designers took place at a Finland festival held in Stockholm in 1936. In 1940, the Ornamo design association of Finland received a request from Denmark to stage an exhibition of Finnish applied art in order to support Finland and Finnish artists in the crucial stages of the Fenno-Soviet Winter War of 1939-40. An important event was an exhibition of Finnish applied art held at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm in the spring of 1941, with Ekholm as its commissioner. In 1945, the Arabia art department held an exhibition at the NK department store in Stockholm. A major exhibition of Nordic applied art and crafts was held in Stockholm in 1946, with Kurt Ekholm as the organizer of the Finnish exhibits. This exhibition was important for Finnish design recovering from the war, and it already prefigured the success that was to come in the 1950s.
Before moving to Sweden, Kurt Ekholm organized the founding of the Arabia Museum. Opened to the public in May 1948, this was Finland’s first factory museum and the country’s first museum of ceramic art and design.
Ekholm was also a part-time representative of the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design from 1946 to 1948.
Kurt Ekholm moved permanently to Sweden upon being invited to be a senior faculty member at the school of the Gothenburg Crafts Association in 1948. He was rector of the school from 1950 to 1966. Ekholm also wrote actively about applied art. He was a critic for the Swedish-language Hufvudstadbladet newspaper in Helsinki from 1944 to 1948 and he also contributed to the Göteborgs handels- och sjöfartstidning newspaper in Gothenburg. Ekholm was awarded a medal of distinction by the City of Gothenburg in 1968.
Auli Suortti-Vuorio
Bibliography:
Kurt Ekholm. Arabia 1931-1948. Exhibition catalogue. Text Marjut Kumela, Rolf Andenberg. Helsinki 1993.
Helkama, Iris, The legacy of a forgotten pioneer. Form Function Finland vol. 4/1993.
Photos:
The Sinivalko tableware
The Sinivalko (Blue and White) or AR tableware service was made of ordinary white faience. It was of functionalist design, completely stackable and thus easily stored even in small kitchens. Items of the service could be bought separately and additions could be made according to need. The only decorative feature of the dishes was a blue stripe on the upper edge. The series was made between 1936 and 1940 and again from 1949 to 1954
The AH tableware
The AH tableware came on sale in the autumn of 1935. It was still a conventional dinner service consisting of 16 different items, including deep and shallow plates of different size, three angular meat dishes, a round meat dish, a relish bowl with a lid, a tureen, two serving bowls, dishes for vegetables and sauces and a pourer. A new feature was the material, so-called ferra faience toned with ferric oxide to a brownish hue. The coloured material also lowered production costs. The AH service was available with various types of decoration.
