Timo Sarpaneva

Timo Sarpaneva (1926–2006) shaped glass as if sculpting from breath and shadow. A central figure in postwar Finnish design, he gave form to silence, frost, and light — creating pieces that feel elemental, suspended between nature and abstraction.

Through his long-standing collaboration with Iittala, Sarpaneva redefined industrial glass, blending refined minimalism with raw material expressiveness. He pioneered innovative techniques at Iittala glassworks — from the wet-stick method creating internal voids, to the “bark glass” of Finlandia (1964–70), where wood molds burned into the surface produced organic texture. His iconic works demonstrate his ability to transform molten glass into poetic objects — at once precise and primal.

RARE. collects Sarpaneva’s works as fragments of a northern imaginary — glass that remembers the forest, the cold, and the clarity of thought.

Discover the glass objects designed by Timo Sarpaneva.