Tamara Aladin: Designs for Riihimäen Lasi

Tamara Aladin was born on August 14, 1932, in Hamina, and died there on March 9, 2019. Between 1959 and 1976, she designed everyday glassware and, above all, vases for the Finnish glassworks Riihimäen Lasi Oy. Over 150 different items are documented under her name. The actual figure is higher because some of the export models remained anonymous. In the 1960s, more than half of the glassworks' vases were based on her designs. This made her the most productive of the designers who shaped the face of Riihimäki during those years, alongside Helena Tynell and Nanny Still.

Training outside of glass

Aladin studied ceramics at the Taideteollinen oppilaitos in Helsinki, the then school of applied arts, and graduated in the mid-1950s. She had no apprenticeship at the glassblower's pipe. Before working at the glassworks, she spent a few years as a flight attendant for Aero, the predecessor to Finnair, and also served as a Russian-speaking intermediary between the cockpit and air traffic control on the route to Moscow. She began at Riihimäen Lasi in 1959. She learned the company's techniques, furnaces, molds, colors, and the limitations of series production during her first few years alongside colleagues who had started earlier.

This path is not unusual for Finnish glass of that period. Designers came from the field of applied arts, not from a glassworks apprenticeship. The form was developed at the drawing board and in coordination with the glassblowers. Aladin herself described it by saying that the first years were for getting to know the production process. The well-known series only began in the second half of the 1960s.

What she designed

Her field was colored, mold-blown glass, especially vases, as well as carafes and utility series. Documented and commercially present names include Kehrä, produced from 1968 to 1976, and Koralli from the 1970s. In addition, there are Cleopatra, Tornado, Carmen, and other lines that were sent to West Germany and Great Britain via trade fairs. Kehrä combines a disc-like profile with a rough, bark-like surface. Tornado works with tires and a twisted silhouette. Koralli relies on organic-looking, repeatable protrusions. What the series have in common is that the form comes from the mold, not from subsequent cutting.

Aladin distanced herself from the labeling of some of these export goods and did not want to see her name on them. In later conversations, she classified some of the models intended for the Central European market as more pleasing than she herself wanted them to be understood. This does not change the authorship. It explains why signed pieces are the exception and why part of the attribution is based on model numbers and comparison, rather than an engraving.

Besides the glassworks, she also designed bottles, including for Marli. After 1976, when Riihimäki ceased mouth-blown production, she ended her work in glass. She did not withdraw from the public eye in the sense of becoming a legend. She lived in Hamina. She found her description as an enigmatic figure, which appears in collector literature, rather amusing.

Mold-blowing, free-blowing, pressing

To read Aladin's vases, one needs to understand the three processes of an industrial glassworks.

Free-blowing is done at the pipe. The glassmaker takes a gather from the furnace and shapes it by turning, blowing, and using wet wooden tools. Every piece differs from the next. Grinding and cutting can follow afterwards. This process remained in Riihimäki for more elaborate glass alongside the series.

Mold-blowing involves blowing or lowering the same gather into a metal or wooden mold. The mold provides the profile, rings, discs, and the bark-like skin. The height may vary, but the silhouette does not. Most of Aladin's export vases were created this way. This is why they exist in several sizes and in the glassworks' respective color palettes, ranging from clear glass to amethyst and smoke to strong cased colors.

Pressing involves pressing glass into a mold with a plunger. The edge is often sharper, the wall more uniform, and seams may remain visible. Riihimäki had a large pressed-glass production. This was not Aladin's main field, but it belonged to the glassworks and ended in 1975, one year before the mouth-blown glass.

In these vases, the color is in the glass, not on it. Amethyst, blue, or smoke are added to the melt as metal oxides. With casing (overfang), a colored layer is placed over a clear or opaque one and blown together. The color can then appear thicker at the rim, at the base, or in a disc than in the wall. This is a result of the distribution in the gather, not a subsequent decoration.

Why the name is missing

Riihimäki rarely signed items in the way collectors expect today. A typical mark is an acid-etched "Riihimäen Lasi Oy" with a model number, a "Made in Finland" paper label, and occasionally a sticker with the number. The designer's name is missing from a large portion of the series. Aladin expressly wanted it this way for some of her export models. Helena Tynell and Nanny Still are more often identified by name, but even then, not consistently. A vase without an "Aladin" engraving can still be her design. Attribution is made via the model number, the silhouette, and comparison with factory lists and documented pieces.

Model numbers are four digits long and, for Aladin, often fall within the range of the 1960s and 1970s production. The same number can appear in several colors and with slight variations in size. A number alone, without matching the form, is no proof. Molds were also varied anonymously in the factory and for export purposes.

In the shop: a Tamara Aladin glass vase model 1363 in amethyst with a Riihimäen Lasi Oy base mark and the blue Bulle glass vase by Tamara Aladin from the 1970s.

Between Tynell and Still

The three designers shared the glassworks, not an office. Tynell stands for sculptural decorative and lighting glass, often with a stronger individual plasticity. Still, who had won a Nordic competition held by the glassworks in 1949, stands for clear, internationally compatible everyday glassware. Aladin stands for the tall, colored vase produced in large quantities. Anyone comparing the three will not see a school of thought, but three answers to the same production method. Aladin's answer was the series. Her freedom lay in the profile, color, and the quantity of models, not in the unique piece.

As a contrast from the same decades, with a different glassworks logic: Carlo Nason and Murano glass.

Frequently asked questions about Tamara Aladin

When did Tamara Aladin work for Riihimäen Lasi?

From 1959 to 1976, until the end of mouth-blown production.

Did Tamara Aladin blow the glass herself?

No. She designed it. Blowing and pressing were done at the glassworks.

Why are vases by Tamara Aladin often unsigned?

The glassworks used acid stamps and model numbers. Aladin did not want her name on a portion of the export goods. Attribution is based on form and number.

Which series by Tamara Aladin are documented?

Among others, Kehrä (1968–1976) and Koralli in the 1970s, plus Cleopatra, Tornado, and Carmen.