Inside the world of Tapio Wirkkala, the designer who created masterpieces in remotest Lapland

The Tokyo Station Gallery in Japan is marking 110 years since the birth of Tapio Wirkkala with a retrospective exhibition. ‘The Sculptor of Ultima Thule’, now showing, wanders the whimsical world of the Finnish designer and sculptor, who chronicled the landscapes of Lapland through design.

Born in 1915, Wirkkala worked with Finnish glass artisan Iittala before founding his own studio in 1966. His work was diverse, using materials and mediums ranging from postage stamps to urban environments. Wirkkala is best known for his plywood sculptures; in 1967, he created one called Ultima Thule, which, he said, symbolised the edge of the known world.

This was a preoccupation of the artist’s, and one that led him to the furthest reaches of northern Finland: without going to see it first, he bought a plot of land in Lemmensuu in the Sápmi region of Lapland, which became his family retreat, as well as a constant source of inspiration. In 1972, in design magazine Domus, Wirkkala said the following of Lapland: ‘Many are the paths of silence. Paths in the silver forest. They are reindeer paths that never lead anywhere. They weave in and out among fallen trees, trees which no one will ever raise, or end the banks of a lake. The waters and hills have no direction, they are infinite.’

The Sápmi plot is an old farm dating back to when the indigenous Sámi established their first permanent residences, populated by traditional timber buildings. To this day, it lacks basic amenities such as roads, running water and electricity; Wirkkala had to transport materials by reindeer.

‘The Sculptor of Ultima Thule’ traces the life led by Wirkkala and his wife, ceramic artist Rut Bryk, in Finnish Lapland. It was simple, with days spent fishing, fetching water, chopping wood and, of course, working. During the summer, when the sun set only for a few hours, Wirkkala could design day and night. ‘Tapio was constantly drawing and sculpting wooden models with his knife,’ his daughter, Maaria, who is also an artist and still spends time at Lemmensuu, recalls. ‘The test versions of the new glass design or other products would arrive by post, transported by boat across the lake from collaborators all over the world, to be checked and redeveloped.’

Wirkkala drew inspiration from Lapland’s nature, especially the changes that came with the seasons: among his most famous creations were glasswork series that resembled snow and ice. His iconic series, also called Ultima Thule, which was initially designed for Finnair, appears as if made of melting ice.

Wirkkala died in 1985. The Tapio Wirkkala Rut Bryk Foundation was established in 2003, with its collection now housed at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA) in southern Finland. ‘The Sculptor of Ultima Thule’ is produced in collaboration with EMMA, and showcases more than 300 of the artist’s works, including glass pieces, sculptures, sketches and archive materials. The retrospective is a love letter to Lapland – a place that, Wirkkala said, ‘[loaded him] like batteries’ and was ‘like a rope [he could] grasp when [he felt] sinking’.

‘The Sculptor of Ultima Thule’ runs until 15 June 2025
ejrcf.or.jp
emmamuseum.fi