The Finnish designer Kaj Franck is regarded as the conscience of Finnish design. He created objects with clear colours and simple shapes that are multifunctional and offer countless combinations. Kaj Franck created many classics in glass and porcelain that are still produced today by the Finnish company Iittala.
Kaj Franck was born in 1911 in Viipuri in Finland (now Vyborg in Russia). After studying applied arts, he first worked as an illustrator, interior designer and textile designer before making a name for himself at the Finnish companies Arabia and Iittala. In 1950, Kaj Franck also became artistic director of the Nuutajärvi glassworks. Franck worked mainly with glass and porcelain. His colleagues included well-known glass designers such as Oiva Toikka and Heikki Orvola.
From 1960 to 1968, Kaj Franck was also artistic director of the Institute of Industrial Arts in Helsinki in Finland, where he reformed the curriculum and training. In 1973, he was appointed professor of art. Through his work at the institute, Kaj Franck became an influential teacher, and his ideals spread throughout the design scene. Kaj Franck died in 1989.
Kaj Franck found the models for his designs not in Scandinavia but in the ideals of the German Bauhaus. With his simple, practical designs, he wanted to be "radical and social" and establish a new table culture for everyone. In doing so, Franck turned directly against the European table etiquette of the time and against complete dinner services that could only be used within narrow limits, with each piece serving a single, clearly defined purpose.
For Kaj Franck, a beautiful object was indispensable, functional and flawless, its very existence justified only by its function. This motto guided Franck's mind and hand as he created objects free of any superfluous decoration – objects that are now a beloved expression of the Scandinavian design aesthetic. In his designs, he did away with everything superfluous, so that only the essential remained.
The Teema tableware series (originally Kilta, Teema since 1981), which is still produced by Iittala today, is a prime example of Kaj Franck's approach. When it was created in 1952, Teema was a kind of "anti-service" and completely new. The more than 30 pieces in the series can be freely combined and used for many purposes. Teema had – and still has – no superfluous decoration. Kaj Franck chose simple shapes and complemented them with clear colours.
Regardless of their colour, the various Teema pieces can be freely combined and used for different purposes. This gives everyone the opportunity to put together their own tableware to suit their wishes and needs. Like Teema, the Kartio glass collection was created in 1958 out of the desire to combine simple shapes with clear colours. Teema and Kartio are still made by Iittala today.
Kaj Franck's designs received numerous awards. In 1955, he won the Lunning Prize, and in 1957 the Compasso d'Oro. Shortly after his death, in 1992, MoMA in New York in the USA held a retrospective of Kaj Franck's work.
