Harlekiini tumbler, 30 cl, turquoise

The Harlekiini tumbler is part of the glass series designed by Nanny Still for Riihimäki Glassworks in 1958. The turquoise colour of the glassware is inspired by Still’s trip to the Mediterranean Sea. According to legend, Nanny Still discovered a turquoise glass on the seashore of Capri, which she later carried to the chemist who invented the colour that now adorns the Harlekiini series.

The Harlekiini glass series was manufactured by Riihimäki Glassworks from 1959 to 1969. The Harlekiini series includes a liqueur glass, a wine glass, a dessert bowl, a pitcher, a vinegar and oil carafe, a salad bowl, a bowl with a lid, a sugar bowl, and a creamer. Some of the glasswork of the Harlekiini series was also made in green. 

Nanny Still

The Riihimäki Glassworks began its operations on February 2nd, 1910. Mikko Adolf Kolehmainen and Aatu Paavo Kolehmainen together with Hjalmar Gabriel Paloheimo, Karl Alfred Paloheimo and Wäinö Bonsdorff founded a limited company with a purpose to build a glass factory in Riihimäki. The first glassware of Riihimäki Glassworks was blown on July 26th, 1910. The production of the glass factory was initially household glass, but already at the turn of the same year, a glass grinding factory was built on the site, where crystal glass grinding started in 1911. The production of packaging glass, such as bottles and cans, began in the same year. From the 1920s onward, Riihimäki Glassworks started to pay more attention to the design side of glass production.

In 1928 organized its first glass design competition. The competition was won by Henry Ericsson, who was later hired for a position of an artistic assistant at the Riihimäki Glassworks. Gradually, art and tableware glass became an important part of the factory’s production. Riihimäki Glassworks employed several notable artists and designers such as Gunnel Nyman, Arttu Brummer, Nanny Still, Aimo Okkolin, Timo Sarpaneva, Helena Tynell and Tamara Aladin. The production of art and tableware glass in Riihimäki Glassworks was discontinued in 1976. The production for window glass had already ended the previous year. Riihimäki Glasswork continued to manufacture packaging glass and plastic packaging until 1990 when all operations were discontinued.