Iittala Glassworks

IITTALA
GLASSWORKS

BRANDED

Glass is one of those everyday luxuries that over the years has become an unnoticed magic of science.

The story of IITTALA dates back to 1881 when a glass factory was established in a village of the same name in southern Finland. Until today, highly-skilled glassblowers and other craftsmen and women are creating iconic objects that became symbols of Finnish design.

The Helsinki based agency AIVAN hired me as Iittala wanted to create a film that would showcase how glass objects are created. It would mainly be displayed on a big screen at The Iittala Glass Factory and Design Museum aswell as in Iittala's stores and online.

DRONE SHOT FROM THE LAKE BOARDING IITTALA'S FACTORY IN SOUTHERN FINLAND

The film is a poetic evocation of the journey of sand through the process of glass manufacturing. We aimed to capture the intensity and tactility of glass making through the entire process, not only focusing on the popular glassblowing part. Even machines can be beautiful.

The visual storytelling is contemplative, according to Iittala's brand values: balance, harmony of life, focus on the essentials.

TITLE: Iittala - Making Of The Essentials
MY ROLE: Co-Director / Camera / Editor
TIME OF YOUR LIFE REQUIRED: 6 Min 45 Sec
KEYWORDS: #Glassblowers #Finland #Tradition #Design

The power of sound

Sound was absolutely key to convey the emotion and physicality of glassmaking. We teamed up with British artist Simon Pyke of Freefarm to create a soundtrack that ultimately became part of Iittala brand identity.

"Taking Nordic music as inspiration I created a soundtrack from a pallet of sounds derived from glass, nature and the tools of creation where the music and sound effects are treated as one. The soundtrack also needed to convey the sense of focused calm within the factory as well as the intensity of heat and steam."
– Simon Pyke, Musician

Making of a bird at Iittala's factory, Finland.

"Within a few weeks, 'Making Of The Essentials' became the most viewed Iittala video."

Building on that success, my collaboration with AIVAN agency became a long term relationship. We further made a new series of films focusing on specific Iittala products like the legendary mouthblown Aalto vase, one of the world’s most famous glass objects.

TITLE: Iittala - Making of the Aalto vase
MY ROLE: Editor
TIME OF YOUR LIFE REQUIRED: 2 Min 55 Sec
MUSIC: Simon Pyke - Freefarm
KEYWORDS: #Glassblowers #Finland #Tradition #Design

TITLE: Iittala - Making of the Raami carafe
MY ROLE: Editor
TIME OF YOUR LIFE REQUIRED: 1 Min
MUSIC: Simon Smith
KEYWORDS: #Glassblowers #Finland #Design #Carafe

TITLE: Iittala - Making of the Birds
MY ROLE: Editor
TIME OF YOUR LIFE REQUIRED: 2 Min 10 Sec
MUSIC: Simon Pyke - Freefarm
KEYWORDS: #Glassblowers #Finland #Craftwork #Birds