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Have you noticed how easy it is, in our shopping-oriented world, to crowd your home with meaningless things? You find yourself with short-lived items that eventually cease to function or go out of style. So they are thrown away, adding to the growing mountains of unusable rubbish on our planet, while you keep on shopping for new things.
Was life meant to be like this? Like more and more people, Iittala doesn’t believe in throwawyism. Long ago, designer Kaj Franck’s postulated that “objects should always be appropriate, durable and functional.” Objects that can be endlessly combined in new ways, refreshing everyday life. At Iittala, we believe in lasting everyday design against throwawayism. For a long time, Iittala has been part of an ongoing revolution. This is based on the belief that all human beings can make conscious choices in everyday life. Choosing objects that will last in design and quality will please our senses and create harmony in our everyday lives. Fortunately, this is also a choice for a more sustainable society, and against buying short-lived things destined for the rubbish bin.
The heart of Iittala’s design philosophy is formulated along Kaj Franck’s early thinking. According to Franck, “objects should always be appropriate, durable and functional.” This is why one of the most important functions of design is to make sure that objects designed for everyday use should be universally usable. Even earlier than Franck, Alvar Aalto made waves in the 1930s when the now iconic Aalto vase was first presented at the Paris World Exhibition. With this mysterious form he made a revolutionary statement against industrial production that failed to meet human needs. The Iittala design philosophy defines the principles behind our product development. These principles include, in addition to pure functionalism, the qualities of essentialism and emotionalism, which ensures that all objects are both highly usable and that their design will remain relevant in the long-term. For ‘lasting everyday design against throwawayism’, we create eternally relevant and contemporary design that responds to universal human needs.
It is in the natural flow of things, however, that all objects will not last forever; they might break or colours and sizes in the assortment might change. But as all Iittala objects are designed to be combinable, even though all variations might not be offered all the time, any new purchases will still fit with existing and future Iittala objects. This allows you to build and refresh your own personal Iittala collection endlessly over time.
Less is more. Mies van der Rohe’s legendary statement has become even more relevant to our planet today. Is it relevant to you? In that case, you might want to follow us and refuse throwawayism. |
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