Tuesday 12 October 2010

Festivo candle holders by Iittala

Festivo candle holders were designed by Timo Sarpaneva in 1966 for Finnish glass makers Iittala.

That they are still produced to this day, after first appearing 44 years ago, is a testament to its classic design.

Apparently, Sarpaneva was inspired by the wooden moulds that glassblowers threw out and he used them to produce the bark/icicle texture seen in the Festivo design.



image from here

They come in eight sizes and are distinguished by the undulating rings. I have seen all eight of the different sized candle holders displayed en masse with candles lit during a cocktail party. It made a striking display and its simplicity was breathtaking.

(As an aside, one of the candle holders exploded from the intensity of the heat when a candle burnt too low. So, beware of exploding crystal.)

Being the copy cat that I am, I bought my first vintage Festivo candle holder for my bark glass shelf in the kitchen. It has two rings.

Two ring Festivo candle holder on the open shelves

I'll be buying a couple more to make the place look festive at Christmas time. It's in lieu of tinsel.

11 comments:

  1. Tinsel is dreadful, I agree wholeheartedly.

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  2. They are beautiful. Tinsel. Overrated.

    Your shelf is looking tres sophisticated!

    I'm in the throes of deciding whether to get a Danish minimalistic Christmas tree ... really can't justify it nor afford it ... but am coming up with highly persuasive arguments for the affirmative team.

    I should follow your lead and stick with smallish, shelf-sized ornaments.

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  3. They look so lovely when grouped together don't they. Your festive group will look tres chic! Maybe just a little tinsel? Silver only of course!

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  4. Your collection is looking lovely. Glad to hear that you are ditching the tinsel!
    x

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  5. They're really lovely and I can imagine how stunning they'd look in a group. For a dinner party just provide all guests with safety glasses!

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  6. I love them. You could use them anywhere.

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  7. Much better than tinsel. I hate tinsel :)

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  8. I bet you are thwarted by children coming proudly home from school or playschool with things made out of tinsel...

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  9. Yes, I'm kidding myself. Children and tinsel come hand in hand.

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  10. I must admit to liking the old tinsel that was very thin rather than the big fluffy stuff, you can't seem to get the thin stuff these days. Love the candle holder, cheers Katherine

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  11. Many of my relatives have these candle holders and other Iittala glass, their glass is very common in Finnish homes.

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