Nanny Still ‘Carnevaali’ Vase

A ‘Carnevaali’ (Carnival) vase designed by Nanny Still for Riihimäki Glassworks, Finland, 1960.

Nanny Still found her inspiration for “Carnival” in the study of party balloons; an entirely appropriate source of inspiration for the year 1960, a time when Finland’s glass industry was experiencing incredible growth and international success – of which Still played a major part.

Nanny Still’s initial idea however, to look at balloons, likely stems from the glassblowing process; glass itself is inflated by air. In “Carnival”, Still captures the elongated forms and visual lightness of rubber balloons, in glass, whilst creating strikingly Modernist designs in her signature geometric style. 

The stacking of geometric shapes, and especially spheres, became somewhat a signature of Still’s work, and was applied throughout her career to designs such as ‘Juhannussalko‘ (1956), ‘Harlekiini’ (1958) and ‘Tzarina’ (1963).

This important ‘Carnevaali’ design is an early example of Riihimäki’s turn-moulded or “hooped” glass, which became synonymous with the glassworks during the latter half of the 1960’s.