17 Apr 2013

DAISY AND ULLA




Last month I had a lovely visit back in Finland. On my return trip back home to England, I ran into a familiar face at the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. The encounter happened in front of a shop called Stockmann, her name was Ulla and she was actually a plate.

Finnish Arabia has had impressive 140 years in pottery business and they are celebrating this with 12 new, blue and white plate designs, each one of them different from another and named after women who have worked in Arabia factory. The illustrations on these plates are designed by Johanna Kunelius and the inspiration for her work came from the decorations on old Arabia plates.

This is the reason why it felt like a reunion, that day at the airport. I had a plate very much like Ulla back home. Naturally, I couldn't just leave her behind but she came home with me. The picture furthest on top shows Daisy, illustrated by Esteri Tomula in the mid sixties. I bought it few years ago with a very reasonable price tag from Ebay. And underneath Daisy is a picture of Ulla. Like two peas in a pod I'd say.

2 comments:

  1. WOW had a quick search but no luck where would I find these plates, also looked on Ebay and nothing comes up under Finnish Arabia?! Anything else they were known as...please help. Ps beautiful blog!

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  2. Hi Christina! The Daisy plate is not in production any more. Keep an eye on Ebay as there are some for sale every ones in a while (type in Arabia Finland, category: pottery, porcelain & glass). The Ulla plate is sold by Finnish department store Stockmann. Link to their website here:
    https://stockmann.com/p/fi/Arabia-140-v-lautanen-Ulla-26-cm/510091/24249?itemId=510092
    Unfortunately it is not in English and I am not sure whether they deliver outside Finland or not...

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