Kaj Franck to be celebrated throughout 2011

Designer and professor Kaj Franck would celebrate his 100th birthday in 2011. To mark the centennial, a number of Finnish design institutions are organizing a series of programmes to honour the legacy of this leading and one of the most influential figures in of Finnish design.

 

“Kaj Franck is a powerful icon who has influenced the DNA of Finnish design,” says Director of Design Forum Finland Mikko Kalhama, describing the importance of Franck in the nation’s design culture and traditions. “The centennial year gives us a magnificent opportunity to highlight Franck as an iconic person and the meaning of his thinking to Finnish design today. The year also gives us an opportunity to make Finnish design known from a larger perspective.”

 

Franck (1911-1989) served a long and productive career in the employ of Iittala’s Nuutajärvi glass factory (1950-1976) and as a designer and director of design at the Arabia porcelain factory (1945-61). His timeless everyday tableware, including Kilta (today marketed by the name Teema) and Kartio can be found in a vast number of homes in Finland and have become part of the Finnish psyche.

 

Franck was also a teacher of design, serving at the predecessor of what is now known as the Aalto University School of Art and Design. Over more than two decades, he educated the younger Finnish design generation, imprinting his strong ethical principles permanently in the minds of Finnish designers.

 

“Franck reminded us of usability, life cycle and recyclability of objects – all visions which are highly topical today,” recounts Tapio Yli-Viikari, professor at Aalto University and a former student of Franck’s.

 

Kaj Frank centennial events

 

The Kaj Franck centennial year’s varied programmes will culminate in a major retrospective exhibition at Design Museum, open to the public from June 15 through September 25, 2011. The exhibition will be complemented by an extensive new book on Franck (to be available in Finnish and English), highlighting Franck’s life and career through recollections by friends and colleagues. Design Museum will produce another exhibition on Franck for the Web.

 

Design Forum Finland will celebrate Franck through its annual Kaj Franck Design Prize, awarded for the 20th time in late autumn 2011. All previous 19 winners of the prize will be presented in a special exhibition, and the prize ceremony will be preceded by an international design seminar.

 

The Kaj Franck centennial year’s programmes will be kicked off by the Aalto University School of Art and Design on January 11, 2011, with the 140th anniversary celebration of the school including the opening of an anniversary exhibition. Franck will be remembered as a teacher and role model.

 

The Finnish Glass Museum will put on view an exhibition titled Kaj Franck – Art of Glass featuring a large private collection and unique pieces from the museum’s own collection, from February 18 through August 28, 2010. The exhibition will highlight the lesser known side of Franck – the designer as a glass artist. Glass art was an important inspiration for his items designed for mass production.

 

Franck was an active member of the Finnish Association of Designers Ornamo. He also bequeathed some funds to Ornamo, and the association will make the first grant from these funds in 2011, in addition to celebrating its own 100th anniversary culminating in a new book on the meaning of design in Finnish society.

 

The stamp division of Itella, a postal and other corporate services company, and Aalto University’s School of Art and Design have organized a Kaj Franck 100 Years stamp design competition. The winner is Sanna Taskinen, M.A., of the School. The stamp will be available from April 1, 2011 onwards.

 

Finnish design professional Päivi Jantunen shared many years with Franck, living and working close to him during the years when he helped shape the Nuutajärvi village. Nuutajärvi featured in a large role in Franck’s career, and he was a larger than life figure in the village. Jantunen has authored a book on Franck as a person, which will be published in 2011 (in Finnish).