As a designer and sculptor, Timo Sarpaneva always advocated renewal. During his entire career, he remained a pioneer and forerunner - an avantgardist, the vanguard of the signs of the time. In the field of art, Timo Sarpaneva is an international profile, a competitor and a champion of the international arena. During the years he was awarded three Grand Prix at the Milan Triennale and in 1954 one of his glass sculptures was chosen as "the most beautiful object of the year" in the USA. Sarpaneva´s works grace the collections of the foremost art museums in the world.
During the last ten or fifteen years of his life, Sarpaneva worked mainly as a sculptor. Out of all materials he knows and he has mastered during fifty decades, he has had the audacity to choose glass as his preferred medium. This choice demonstrates that Timo Sarpaneva has, once again, chosen to go his own way, unfettered by expectation or convention. Contemporary sculpture is seldom made from glass. Glass is, nevertheless, a medium which offers some of the greatest potential and also the greatest challenges. Sarpaneva´s creative capacity appeared to know any bounds. His glass sculpture is a revelation of what was hidden.
Timo Sarpaneva: Curriculum Vitae
Born in Helsinki, Finland, October 31, 1926 – Died in Helsinki, Finland, October 6, 2006
Honors
1958 Pro Finlandia Medal of the Order of the Finnish Lion
1963 Honorary Royal Designer for Industry, Royal Society of Arts, London
1967 Honorary Doctor, Royal College of Arts, London
1975 Commander of the Order of the Finnish Lion
1976 Title of honorary professor H.C.
1981 Honorary member of ORNAMO, the Finnish Association of Designers
1985 Academico di Honor, Academia di Diseno, University of Mexico City
1993 Honorary Doctor, University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland
1994 The Commander´s Cross, 1st Class, of the Order of the Dannebrog
1995 Commander of the Order of the White Rose of Finland
Major international awards:
1954 Grand Prix, art glass collection, X Triennale di Milano
1954 "The Most Beautiful Object of the Year" award, glass sculpture,
House Beautiful magazine
1956 First Prize, art and utility glass, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York
1956 First Prize, utility glass, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York
1956 The Lunning Prize
1957 Grand Prix, exhibition arhitecture, XI Triennale di Milano
1957 Grand Prix, art and utility glass, XI Triennale di Milano
1963 International Design Award, light fittings, American Institute of Interior Designers
1963 International Design Award, cast iron household objects, American Institute of Interior Designers
1963 International Design Award, art and utility glass, American Institute of Interior Designers
1965 Eurostar in Vienna, Ambiente gift wrapping papers and production method,
European Packaging Federation
1969 International Design Award, Ambiente coloring system and Ambiente fabrics, American Institute of Interior Designers
1976 Italian President´s gold medal, Suomi porcelain, Faenza
1993 Suomi Award, Helsinki
Works by Sarpaneva have been acquired by the following museums:
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Corning Museum of Glass, New York
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim
Kunstindustrimuseet, Oslo
Det Danske Kunstindustrimuseum, Copenhagen
The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Sammlung der Stadt Braunschweig
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg
Die Neue Sammlung, Munich
Staatliches Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Munich
Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg, Coburg
Museen der Stadt Köln, Cologne
Kunstgewerbemuseum, Cologne
Landesgewerbemuseum, Nuremburg
Museo Internationale delle Ceramiche, Faenza
Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Malmö Museum, Malmö
Röhsska Konstslöjdmuseet, Gothenburg
Design Museo, Helsinki
Finnish Glass Museum, Riihimäki
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Kunsthalle, Mannheim
Musée des Arts Décoratifs de la Ville Lausanne
Hessishes Landesmuseum, Darmstadt
Kunstmuseum, Dusseldorf
Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama
Centre Pompidou, Musee National D´art Moderne, Paris
