During the exhibition Glass from Finland in the Bischofberger Collection, curated by Kaisa Koivisto and Pekka Korvenmaa (13 April – 2 August 2015) and organised by Le Stanze del Vetro on the Island of San Giorgio, the Institute of Art History’s Glass Study Centre will hold an international conference devoted to Finnish glass and its influence on the international scene.

The conference is intended to be a scholarly complement to the exhibition and will cast light on the development of Finnish design from the early 1930s to the 1970s. Major experts will contribute by exploring various aspects of the subject, including the history of Finnish design and its influence on glass worldwide. In the period in question along with renowned designers, such as the husband and wife Aino and Alvar Aalto, other rising stars of Scandinavian design came to the fore, including Arttu Brummer, Gunnel Nyman and Göran Hongell. This was also the time when significant collaborations were established between Italian companies and Finnish artists, as in the highly successful case of the Venini glassworks with Tapio Wirkkala and Timo Sarpaneva.

THURSDAY 4 JUNE

MORNING – 9.30 am
Welcoming remarks
Luca Massimo Barbero,
Director of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini Institute of Art History

10 am – 1 pm
Pekka Korvenmaa
What was there besides glass?

Kaisa Koivisto
Nature and Finnish glass from the Thirties to the Seventies

Jennifer Opie
Finnish glass in London

Nina Strizler-Levine
Finnish Design in America: discourses, mythologies, realities

AFTERNOON – 3 pm

Jean-Luc Olivié
Paris-Helsinki, one way or round trip?

Timo Keinanen
Fantasy and functionality, the glass of Aino and Alvar Aalto

Maja Heuer
Paradigm shift for Scandinavian glass – experimentation and redefinition of contemporary Finnish glass during the glass industry’s period of transformation

Valerio Terraroli
Impeccable form and taste: Finnish style and Italian design

Vittorio Linfante
Back to the future of design: the continuing dialogue between Italian design and Finnish design

Rosa Barovier Mentasti
Winds from the North