APPLIED ART IN FINLAND
[Les Arts Appliques En Finlande, Las Artes Utiles En Finlandia]
H. Röneholm, W. West and W. Wahlroos
H. Röneholm, W. West and W. Wahlroos: APPLIED ART IN FINLAND [Les Arts Appliques En Finlande, Las Artes Utiles En Finlandia]. Helsinki: The Finnish Section of New York World’s Fair 1939, 1939. Text in English, French and Spanish. Quarto. Perfect bound thick printed wrappers. 79 pp. Fully illustrated in black and white. Art Museum inkstamp to front free endpaper. Wrappers and page edges lightly worn, but a very good or better copy.
8.5 x 11 softcover catalog with 79 pages printed on a glosssy paper stocks, illustrated with many examples of Finnish Decorative Arts as featured at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Work includes textiles, glassware, fine silver, ceramics, furniture, interior design, wood carving, window displays, posters, book covers and lighting
Artists include Henry Ericsson, Maija Kansanen, Gunnar Forsström, W. West, Elsa Elenius, Kurt Eckholm, Viola Gråsten, Eva Eklöf, Gunilla Jung, Impi Sotavalta, Grete Hermansen, Eva Anttila, Margareta Ahlstedt-Willandt, Sigrid Wikström, Alli Koroma, Kreeta Pohjanheimo, Lea Vehmanen, Kirst Syväranta, Marianne Strengell, Greta Skogster-Lehtinen, Marga Tikkanen, Greta Sittnikow, Margaret T. Nordman, Gunnel Nyman, A. Brummer, Aino and Alvar Aalto, Ilmari Tapiovaara, Runar Engblom, Elna Kiljander, Lisa Johansson, Einari Kyöstilä, Gunnar Finne, J. S. Sirén, Hannes Autere, Nora Henschel and Kaj Franck, Eva Glydén, G. A. Jysky, Arttu Brummer, Yrjö Rosola, Göran Hongell, Walter Wahlroos, Barita Aminoff, Bruno Alm, P. Söderström, Ilmari Sysimetså, Toivo Wikstedt, Jorma Suhonen, Onni Oja, Greta Strandberg, Gunilla Jung, Dora Jung, Paavo Tynell, Toini Muona, Elsa Elenius, Aune Siimes, Siiri Hariola and Michael Schilkin.
The Finnish Association of Designers Ornamo is a membership organisation for design professionals in the fields of industrial design, fashion, textile and furniture design, interior architecture, craft art and textile art as well as researchers of design.
The members of Ornamo are among the best of their profession through their training and strong professional know-how. Common to all are a good sense of form and strong knowledge of materials.
The Finnish Society of Crafts and Design was founded in 1875, when Finland was still under Russian control. The founders of the society were a group of influential people in the cultural arena and captains of industry. Examples were sought among Europe's foremost schools of industrial arts and crafts.
At first the society maintained a school which taught manual skills and assembled a collection of international industrial arts and crafts. On the initiative of a founder of the society, Professor of Aesthetics Carl Gustaf Estlander, a major new construction project was carried out together with the Finnish Fine Arts Association. The building which resulted from this, the Ateneum, became a museum and institute of education for Finnish fine art and industrial arts.
Gradually the school grew and won an established place as the leading Finnish college in its field. In 1965 it became owned by the Finnish state and it later became a university, the University of Art and Design Helsinki. Today it is the School of Arts, Design and Architecture of the Aalto University. The society also founded the Museum of Art and Design, which after an eventful history became owned by an independent foundation in 1989. Today it is called Design Museum.
The history of the society also includes the famous Finnish sections at Milan Triennales in the 1950s and '60s, the golden age of Finnish design, when many prestigious designers won awards and international fame with their products. The society also actively arranged touring exhibitions of Finnish and Nordic design. The best-known of these toured the USA in the 1950s and Australia and Asia in the 1960s. International activities have therefore always played an important part in the society's work.
After divesting itself of the school and museum, the society turned its efforts in a new direction. At the end of the 1980s, a new, international name was adopted, Design Forum Finland. The core business was to promote design among small and medium-sized industry as well as international operations. Operations settled down in the form of exhibitions in Finland and abroad, publicity and communications, publications, competitions and awards.
In 2015 the Society faced great changes. Design Forum Finland got a new strategy where its activities were mainly aimed at enhancing the use of design in SMEs.