finnish glass – Contemporary Glass

26/01/202210/01/2023

KOTI exhibition at The Museum of Fine Arts Eemil

Sini Majuri’s exhibition has opened at the Museum of Fine Arts Eemil. The theme of the exhibition ‘Home’ (Finnish Koti) is illustrated via poetic blown glass. Home is something that define ourselves: who we are and who we desireto be. Home can mean Chaos or a Serene safe haven. It can be dangerous. Loving. Home is missed. It’s not for granted to have a home. Especially in the midst of pandemics home has evolved into new dimensions.

The cartoon story is captured inside blown glass in the exhibition. The illustrations have broken textures that mimic the feeling of ancient and also reflect on the fragile nature of a human. Sini Majuri, Chambers. Graal technique. Suomenlinna 2022.

The exhibition is part of the program of UN’s international year of glass 2022 – which is why Majuri wanted to highlight the diversity, co-operation and vitality of Finnish contemporary glass in the exhibition. The artist is not only shaping the glass material but the whole creative field and its future.

Studio made glass is an expressive medium that can give a shape to a feeling, the visible and invisible levels of existence. The theme Home is mirrored via multi-layered interpretations of classic Graal- glass blowing technique. Glass story follows the logic of a dream and Home is also seen as a metaphor to a persons psyche. An important part of the narrative is how our own position affects the ways we see each other.

“Inside the optical, vivid glass, a face is distorted. It is impossible to see it as real because the glass material is never static – as a human never is. I’m interested in human gender and how it has been illustrated in culture over the Millennia. ” Sini Majuri. Family Portrait – Hollywood. Riihimäki 2022

The exhibition first focuses on the atmosphere of the Majuri’s home region and then walks into the building to see who lives there. There are multiple hidden layers in the story that can only be seen from exact angle. The textures of the illustrations imitate ancient feel and broken surfaces. This is a metaphor to humanity. Home is seen as a part of a persons psyche. Sini Majuri. Graal technique. Suomenlinna 2022

Glass is a language of beauty – because it is an optical, reflective material that can express subtle shades of emotions, which are otherwise difficult to reach. The sculptures focus in a way human are seen and looked at. The cartoon is inspired by the selfie culture that is mixed into an ancient feel. The main idea in the story is human perspective: how we are tied to our own viewpoint when looking at others. Multi-layered sculptures illustrate the depth of a person. The exhibition is open from January 28 till April 17 2022 in the Museum of Fine Arts Eemil, Lapinlahti Finland.

Read more about the exhibition from Iisalmen Sanomat News Paper: Link

Read an aticle from the Contemporary Glass Society: Link

26/08/202022/09/2020

The Venice Glass Week 2020

The international Festival dedicated to the art of glass presents its fourth edition: #TheHeartOfGlass, which will take place around Venice, Murano and Mestre from 5th to 13th September 2020. This year’s event place a special focus on the “making” of glass, with the aim of helping to support and relaunch the Murano glass industry. Alongside events including exhibitions, demonstrations and guided tours, the Festival will offer a programme of online initiatives, in order to sustain links with international audiences.

My sculpture is inspired by the microscopic world and how something invisibly small can change the World. Photo by Massimo Pistore

The Floating Furnace, a travelling programme of demonstrations with different stops around the Lagoon. The Venice Glass Week places a special focus on the production of glass, and aims to help relaunch and revitalise the sector – primarily that of Murano – which has faced extreme difficulties as a result of months of closure due to Covid19. The aim is to (re)ignite the passion for the ancient art of glass amongst citizens of Murano, Venice, the Veneto and Italy, and to reach this audience The Venice Glass Week is going to extreme lengths: it is bringing the art of glassmaking out of the furnaces to meet the city’s residents and visitors. Photo: Nexa -Event & Travel Designers, Photographer Federica Lazzarini.

For the first time the Festival has a “title-hashtag”: #TheHeartOfGlass, placing a special focus on the production of glass, and aiming to help relaunch and revitalise the sector – primarily that of Murano – which has faced extreme difficulties as a result of months of closure due to Covid-19.

I’m honored to exhibit my glass installation in The Venice Glass Week HUB in September. Cassiopeia reflects Scandinavian aesthetics and light through organic surfaces. Each sculpture is made from mouth blown studio glass and shaped by hand. The design philosophy behind the ‘Cassiopeia’ is to create poetic interpretation of the weightless yet strong nature of glass. How it allows to see to the deepness of the Universe though the lenses of telescope and into the smallest details of life in the
microscopic world.

The theme in 2020 is “The Heart of Glass”. The festival is promoted by the Town Council of Venice and conceived by three of Venice’s principal cultural institutions with considerable experience and expertise in the field of glass – Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Fondazione Giorgio Cini – LE STANZE DEL VETRO and Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti – along with the most important trade association, the Consorzio Promovetro Murano, which also manages the Vetro Artistico® Murano trademark of the Veneto Region. Once again in 2020 The Venice Glass Week has been officially designated by the Regione del Veneto.

Address:
The Venice Glass Week Hub
Palazzo Loredan
sede dell’Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti
San Marco 2945
30124 Venice
Italy

Exhibition open to the public: 5th – 13th September 2020 (10am to 6pm)

In line with the strict regulations prescribed by the Italian national health authority in relation to Covid-19, a limited number of visitors will be allowed into the building at one time. All visitors will be required to wear masks.

17/06/202024/06/2020

Icy glasses by Sini Majuri

The new edition of drinking glasses by Sini Majuri are inspired by Nordic nature.
Each Icy glass has it’s own breath and charisma because the movement of the ckracking ice is frozen inside the glass during the glass blowing process. The combination of smooth and cracked surface flirts with light and shadow. The design project is supported by Taike, the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.

The Icy glasses are perfect for serving chilled drinks and cocktails. Studio made drinking vessels are expertly handcrafted in Finland. Each mouth blown object has unique icy surface texture and is signed by hand. The design philosophy behind Icy series is to create elegant, timeless and durable everyday objects. The glasses gain their value from their high quality and design.

*Icy* glass collection studies old glass blowing tech with Norden mood. Each piece has a unique broken surface that mimics melting and frosted texture of ice. The technique used is called crackle and it was developed in Venice in 16th century.

Icy glasses are inspired by the atmosphere in Lapland.

The designer tumbler with Scandinavian aesthetics offer a satisfyingly weighty feel in the hand. The moment when a unique Icy glass is used is special. When light is gleaming trough the glass with icy texture, the shadow looks like moving water.

210_juomalasi — Icy glasses are studio made in Finland. Glasses are signed by hand.

123_juomalasi — Purple color edition of Icy glass has a soft color hue that highlights the unique surface texture.

Dimensions: 8 Ø x 10 H cm
Available in clear and purple colour.
Made in Riihimäki, Finland.

07/05/202007/05/2020

Sini Majuri wins three A’ Design Awards from Italy

A’ Design Award and Competition is the worlds’ largest design competition awarding best designs, design concepts and products & services. Image by A design Award.

Sini Majuri has been honored with two renowned Silver A’ Design Awards and one Iron Award. The Rainforest glass series won the Silver from Furniture, Decorative Items and Homeware Design Competition. Also Majuri’s work Iceberg won a Silver Award at Arts, Crafts and Ready-Made Design Competition Category. The Iron award was given to Majuri’s Spike lamp design at Lighting Products and Lighting Projects Design Competition Category.

The collection aims to create vases that have unusually thick glass as their material. The space for inner part of the vase is minimized. Almost hidden. This makes the vases appear voluminous, yet light.

The Rainforest vases are a mixture of 3D designed shapes and traditional Scandinavian steamstick technique. The hand shaped pieces have extremely thick glass with weightlessly floating splashes of color. The studiomade collection is inspired by the contrasts of nature, and how it creates harmony.

The A’ Design Competition is organized annually in Como, Italy. Image by A’Design Award.

The Silver A’ Design Award is a prestigious award given to top 5% percentile designs that has achieved an exemplary level of originality in design. Entries to the A’ Furniture Design Awards are peer reviewed and anonymously judged by an expert jury panel of prominent academics, important press members and experienced professionals. Nominated furniture designs are voted on pre-determined evaluation criteria to highlight only the leading furniture design works.

Icebergs are interior sculptures. By connecting mountains, it is possible to build mountain ranges, mental landscapes made of glass. The surface of each recycled glass object is unique. Thus, each object has a unique character, a soul. Sculptures are handshaped, signed and numbered in Finland. The main philosophy behind the Iceberg sculptures is to reflect the climate change.

Spike lamp plays with contrasts. It is inspired by punk culture and calm Scandinavian mood. It is a voluminous piece, with warm light that is focused into a small pointy area under the piece. The Spike lamp has a aggressive appearance because of the metal spikes pointing towards the viewer. At the same time there is something calm about the smoothness of the ceramic surface and warm light. The lamp creates tension in a interior. Like an individual from a subculture.

The object is made in a two sided plaster mold by JP Studiokeramiikka. The outer surface of the ceramic object is spray glazed. The light is a dimmable LED. The diameter of the ceramic part is 350 mm x 320 mm. With the spikes the diameter of the lamp is 450 mm x 370 mm.

The Spike lamp has a aggressive appearance because of the metal spikes pointing towards the viewer. At the same time there is something calm about the smoothness of the ceramic surface and warm light. The lamp creates tension in a interior.

A’ Art Design Award aims to highlight the excellent qualifications of best art designs and greatest art design concepts worldwide. The A’ Design Accolades are organized and awarded annually and internationally in multiple categories to reach a wide, design-oriented audience. The ultimate aim of the A’ art Design Competition is to create a global awareness for good design.

14/03/202022/03/2020

Sini Majuri in A’Design Award Grand Jury

Sini Majuri will be in A’Design Awards Grand Jury for the 2020 – 2021 competition after winning a Golden award from the competition in 2019. A’ Design Award Grand Jury Panel brings together the World’s leading design professionals, prominent academics, influential press members and leading experts in industry to recognize, cherish and value good design products, projects and services. A’ Design Award jurors are fully committed to acknowledge and distinguish good design in all its forms.

Sini Majuri will represent Finnish design in the award Jury.

The award ceremoni will be held in Italy in 2021.

The mission of the A’ Award and Competition is to provide a fair, ethical and competitive platform for companies, designers and innovators from all design fields with different experience levels, diverse disciplines and market focus to compete on, while providing them a global audience to showcase their success and talents to. The A’ Award and Competition aims to act as blender; to bring together designers, companies and the press. Learn why it is called A’ (A-Prime) Design Award.

For 2020 – 2021 there are 219 Jury Members forming the International Design Academy – The Grand A’ Design Award Jury Panel – The World’s Largest and Most Influential Design Award Jury. Sini Majuri will represent Finnish design and glass making in the jury. She is also the only jury member from Finland in 2020.

There are 218 Jury members in the 2020 award edition. The international award is based in Italy.

The annual gala is one of the worlds largest design events.

A’ Design Award and Competition is the worlds’ largest design competition awarding best designs, design concepts and products & services. The motto of the A’ Design Awards is “Ars Futura Cultura” i.e. Arts Cultivate the Future, Arts for the Culture of Future. The future is shaped by arts, design and technology, thus there is need of good design for a better future.

01/01/202012/03/2021

1000 Vases exhibition in Dubai Design District

1000 Vases exhibition in Dubai was a cascade of design. Thousand vases at the modernistic atrium space all had their clever details, contemporary twists and interesting use of mediums. Being invited to the international design event was one of the highlights of my spring time.

My green Rainforest glass vases were premiered in the exhibition. Despite so many vases in the show, the set up was fresh and elegant. Each and every one of the objects had their place to shine. Picture @nateleecocks

I really enjoyed the opening day. Meeting all the artists and designers was inspiring – let alone the great exhibition team that worked miracles helping with all the last minute hustle. Picture @nateleecocks

The technique used in the green Rainforest vases is steam stick. It’s one of the iconic techniques from the golden era of Finnish glass design. I enjoyed seeing the vases side by side and contrasting with modern Tube vases by Fabio Meliota. Picture @nateleecocks

The 1000 Vases exhibition was also honored to welcome the Sheikh of Bahrain. The Abu Dhabi TV also visited the show. Picture credit 1000 Vases.

All the guests got fresh hyacinth flowers to take home. Such a lovely idea!

Flowers were also a important part of the set up. After all: vase and a flower have a long history together. Though many of the exhibition pieces can also be seen as sculptures, there is always the throwback of usable object when we look at a vase.

The venue was located in Dubai Design District. The area is full of galleries, design folks and creative companies. The 1000 Vases exhibition was created in collaboration with Meet My Project and TAM. Picture @nateleecocks

Art Dubai 2019 presented more than 90 galleries from 40 different countries. Contemporary, Modern, Residents as well as the inaugural edition of Bawwaba. It was great to meet so many interesting connections for the future collaborations. Picture credit Päivi Lavikainen

The most inspirational location was the town of Al Madam, the ‘*Buried Village*‘ lost in sand.

31/07/201926/08/2020

Golden Design Award from A’Design Award

Jungle Glass Vase is Golden Design Award winner in 2018 – 2019 Furniture, Decorative Items and Homeware Design Award Category in the international A’Design Award in Italy.

Inspired by nature, the premise of the Jungle glass collection is to create objects that gain their value from the quality, design and material. Simple shapes reflect the serenity of the medium, while being weightless and strong at the same time. Vases are mouth-blown and shaped by hand, signed and numbered. The rhythm of the glass making process ensures that each object in the Jungle Collection has a unique colour play that mimics the movement of waves.

In a world where there are millions of products and designs launch each year, the award was born out of the desire to underline the best designs and well designed products. The award-winning products and designs are highlighted to the international public via the A’ Design Award Gala-Night and Exhibition in Italy and they are communicated to all relevant press across the world.

03/07/201915/07/2019

Gem and Spike lamps exhibited in Tendence fair, Frankfurt

There was a heat wave in Frankfurt, so it was good to walk to the exhibition center early in the morning before the temperature rised to 40 Celcius. A total of 603 exhibitors presented their fashionable lifestyle and trend products at the 3-day lifestyle fair. My booth was in the Hall 8.

I exhibited two new lamp concepts at the exhibition. The 35 cm wide Spike lamp has a “bad attitude”. It is studio made from ceramics and metal. Orders are available via online message.

The second new piece was the emerald green Gem lamp that is shaped by hand and has a dimmable LED light. Every lamp is also signed. Gem is available for order via online message.

Icebergs will be exhibited also in the Venice Glass Week in September. It was great to already meet many Venetian people that were visiting Tendence!

Gem vase has the same solid colored emerald green glass material as the Gem lamp and the green Icebergs. I chose the color as my theme in the booth to highlight the varied essence of glass material.

13/02/201917/03/2019

New edition of Jungle Collection premiered in Dubai

1000 VASES exhibition in Dubai presents a unique selection of vases in the Dubai Design District during the Art Dubai 2019 Festival. Sini Majuri has been invited to take part to the international show with her latest edition of the Jungle Collection.

Sini Majuri’s glass vase collection Jungle was first introduced by DutZ Collection in 2018 and exhibited in design fairs around Europe, China and Japan. In 2019 there will be 3 new models premiered in Dubai. The theme in the new pieces is “Rainforest”. Eacn object is solid glass and shaped by hand. The technique used is Timo Sarpaneva’s Steam Stick.

The event redefines both the space of the exhibition and the very presentation of an object, here the vase: a functional, everyday object that rises to the rank of fine-art object thanks to the work and imagination of these designers. This medium is therefore perfect to show all the plurality of the artistic scene today.

2019 edition of Jungle collection will be premiered in Dubai. The shape of the objects is inspired by Timo Sarpaneva’s Steam stick-technique.

The public will be invited to discover, throughout the duration of the exhibition, the creations of young independent designers: unique pieces, made in a multitude of materials and reflecting the personality, the universe and the sensitivity of each.

This overwhelming volume of vases compels us with its richness, its diversity and reveals to us all the artistic expertise of these creators. A profusion of vases which is nothing less than the reflection of the inventiveness and the creative intensity which they show, provoking in us this much desired emotion.

To show the singularity of each designer while confronting him with what surrounds him to better understand the dynamism of the current creation, is at it’s core, the philosophy of the project 1000 Vases.

1000 VASES

19 – 25.3.2019
Opening 19.3. At 6.30 – 9 PM

Dubai Design District (d3)
Atrium of building No.7
PO Box 333 300
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
GPS: Lat: 25.18629 Lng: 55.29914

03/12/201804/12/2018

Bukowskis auction and Xmas Design market

I’m delighted to get my first solo theme auction in Helsinki! Contemporary Glass Art by Sini Majuri auction at Bukowskis opens Tuesday 4.12.2018 and closes on Santa Lucia’s day 13.12.2018. I’ll be exhibiting a group of unique pieces made between 2013 – 2018. There is also a graal piece from my Aika series, sculptures that are mixing metal with glass and some unique color editions from Jungle collection. Welcome to see the exhibition at Bukowskis Market, Mastokatu 4, 00160 Helsinki!

There are two individual spoon sculptures in the auction.

Memory is a scene from the Flying Boat exhibition. There are hidden foxes in the sculpture.

Gemma is a group of solid green glass shapes. A piece from the Bukowskis auction.

My iceberg sculptures and Vuoksi glasses can also be found in Ornamo Design Xmas at Kaapelitehdas 7-9.12.2018. My booth will be in Merikaapelihalli, in front of the big windows. Come and say hi! The Design show is a great place to find fresh art and design pieces – and also meet the designers!

Kaapelitehdas, Merikaapelihalli 7.12.–9.12.2018.
Fri 7.12. at 15-19 PM
Sat 8.12. at 10-19 PM
Sun 9.12. at 10-18PM

During the Xmas season some of my glass sculptures can also be found from Helsinki City Center’s Stockmann. The sculptures are located in the Interior design section on the 5th floor.