Rara Avis

This streamlined and stylized blown-glass bird with bold green stripes is a rare bird indeed.  

This little bird was made by the Finnish design company of Iittala. Iittala was founded in 1881 as a glassworks in Iittalain, Finland by Peter Magnus Abrahamson, who brought glassblowers with him from Sweden. By the late 1800s the company came under Finnish control and hired its first in-house designer in 1903. Iittala, which would later expand into ceramic and metal creations, became known for its innovative glass designs emphasizing the beauty of form and color over ornamentation.

Under its breast, the bird is etched "O. Toikka" and "Nuutajärvi." The signature is that of Oiva Toikka (1931-2019), considered one of the masters of Finnish glass design, who created his Birds by Toikka for Iittala. Today Iittala continues his legacy, its skilled artisans crafting each Toikka bird by hand. This whimsical bird represents a whip-poor-will or willow duck (in Finnish, the bird is called pajusotka, paju being the Finnish word for willow and sotka meaning a type of duck), and was created for the Birds of Passage collection from 1991 through 1997. Nuutajärvi is the Finnish city where the Iittala glassworks are located.

All posted items are for sale at Next-to-New, but things can sell quickly!

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