Iittala has a long history of using Stockholm’s annual design week as the launchpad for its new collections (most notable among them are collaborations with Jasper Morrison and Issey Miyake), but this year, it took the opportunity to reveal an entire company rebrand. That included a new tableware range, new logo and new typeface, all produced under the helm of new creative director Janni Vepsäläinen (pictured below).
To mark the occasion, Iittala held a celebratory party on the first night of the design week at the edgy disused nuclear power plant KTH R1, which was one of our highlights of the design week. It was here (25 metres underground) that we spoke to Vepsäläinen about her vision for Iittala.
‘When I started as a creative director the first thing I did – which I guess is natural for a creative coming into this kind of brand – was I started looking at the history, the archives and the stories behind the most iconic pieces,’ Vepsäläinen recalls. Iittala started out in 1881 as a glass factory in Finland before reaching international popularity in the 1930s. It’s collection with Finnish architect Alvar Aalto went on to become one of the most iconic and instantly recognisable ranges.
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Vepsäläinen joined Iittala last year after stints as a designer at prestigious fashion houses JW Anderson and Simone Rocha. ‘I found this beating heart of experimentation and a brand that was always challenging the status quo and going against the grain. I jumped on that – I was like, right, this is my cue, this is my licence to explore the capabilities of that craft, but also the expression of the brand.’
Her commitment to exploring the capabilities of tableware is evidenced in the brand’s first collection since the rebrand, ‘Play’. Comprised of pastel-hued cups and saucers, jewel-like drinking glasses and vases, as well as an extensive soft furnishings offering, ‘Play’ is both a nod to Iittala’s heritage as well as a clear move towards a more vibrant, youthful future. As Vepsäläinen puts it: ‘I’m not trying to reinvent anything. I’m just rejuvenating.’
For some, Vepsäläinen, whose background is in fashion, might make her an unexpected choice for the role, but she sees her lack of experience within the homeware industry as an advantage that means she is more open to experimentation and rejecting the status quo.
When pressed to reveal whether she has any plans to collaborate with designers of today in the pipeline, she is tight lipped. ‘Traditionally, we’ve always worked with amazing external designers but at the same time, then it’s harder to keep the brand as one entity. I feel so passionate about really building that internal creative muscle because I think we need to find our own language and then we can kind of start introducing creatives into it,’ she explains. We look forward to seeing what their next flex will be. iittala.com
