One of the pioneers of Finnish industrial art, Tapio Wirkkala (1915-1985) designed furniture, jewelry, and objects in glass and ceramic, drawing his strength as an innovator from his unique sensitivity to the materials he used, and from his belief that the artist should contribute to every stage of the production process. His leaf dishes in laminated plywood have long entered the pantheon of modern design. “All materials have their own unwritten laws,” he suggested, creating magnificent textures derived almost entirely from the visual patterns of nature. I was pleased to learn that Jacksons Berlin Gallery presents an exhibition devoted to the work of Wirkkala, entitled “High Resolution”, bringing together the Finnish famed designer with contemporary German photographer Hans Hansen, an influential product photographer, known for style rooted in abstraction and reduction. The exhibition comes to demonstrate Wirkkala’s emphasis on the material’s intrinsic qualities and on his remarkable versatility and technical virtuosity.
