Not all Scandinavian design reflects the Scandinavian nature or climate, but it can still be genuinely Scandinavian. One good example of this is the Kaj Franck’s “Morning in Athens” sculpture designed for Iittala.
For this sculpture, the designer is told to have been inspired by the beauty of Greece. “Morning in Athens” is made of five transparent, hand-blown glass orbs attached together by a pendant. There are three different combinations, varying the size of the orbs and their positioning in the pendant. When the pendants move, the orbs make a sound that reminds one of the church bells in Athens on a clear Sunday morning.
Although the inspiration comes from Greece, the style and disposition follows the Scandinavian tradition. The sculpture is a minimalistic design produced with mass-production methods and therefore available for all. It was originally manufactured at the Nuutajärvi factory from 1954 to 1975, and reproduced for two years during 1992-1994 (nb: The Nuutajärvi factory is the oldest glass factory in Finland, and is well-known for its hand-blown glass). While celebrating Kaj Frank’s 100th birthday anniversary, Iittala brought “Morning in Athens” back to production again.
The length of the one pendant is 63 centimeters, so there are many variations of its use. It can be hung next to a window, when the beauty of the hand-blown glass comes out with light reflecting from the orbs; it can be use as singular design object or with many of the pendants together, as a screen or divider between spaces. The church bell noise comes out only when two or more pendants are hanging next to each other, so one should consider owning more than one of them!
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