Timo Sarpaneva

Did Sarpaneva have any favourite pieces among his works? If one had to be named, it might be the “Kayak”. The original piece was born in the 1950s, when glass was not understood as a material for sculpture. After the war, almost exclusively household items were made of glass. The “Orchid”, which was born around the same time as the “Kayak”, was not a vase, nor was the "Kayak” an avocado bowl, as was once speculated. They were sculptures.

Timo often returned to masterpieces from his youth in his stories, and it is no wonder that he began his work in Murano with precisely these forms and techniques. "The “Kayak” can be about a meter long and in the following colours - black, ruby, amethyst, blue - Remind me to make colour schemes when we get to the hotel." The colour schemes were made in the evening in the quiet restaurant hall of a small Venetian hotel. But time caught up to the artist and Pino Signoretto created the coloured “Kayak” sculptures posthumously in 2009.

Marjatta Sarpaneva