Tammi coffee cup, saucer and plate, blue - green

Esteri Tomula was a Finnish artist who worked for the design brand Arabia for almost 40 years. She graduated from the University of Art and Design Helsinki in 1947, and began working as a decorator for Arabia the same year. Tomula was particularly known for abundantly decorated, expertly drawn designs often based on the natural world. During her long and productive career, Tomula designed many beloved decorations, including the ones adorning the Vegeta enamel pots by Finel and the Botanica wall plates by Arabia.

Göran Bäck (1923-2003) was a Finnish ceramic artist who had a long career in the Arabia factory. Bäck began his career as a pottery maker in the early 1940s in a workshop in Kronoby, Ostrobothnia region, owned by his sister Rakel Bäck. Bäck also worked momentarily as an apprentice at the Arabia factory, before in 1945 he left to practise more about the pottery maker profession in a small pottery workshop in Inkeroinen and in a pottery factory in Kauniainen. Later in 1945, Bäck returned to the Arabia factory and began working as a pottery maker at the Ara-department of the factory. In 1946, Bäck was transferred to the factory’s product design department, where he began working as a pottery maker for the designer Kaj Franck. Bäck’s job was to create three-dimensional prototypes of the sketches drawn by Franck.

In 1947, Bäck momentarily returned to his sister’s workshop, until a year later he returned to work again at Arabia’s product design department. Bäck worked there as a pottery maker until 1957 when he began his one-year product design studies in Germany on a scholarship provided by the Arabia factory. After his studies, Bäck returned to the Arabia factory and began working as an independent designer in the industrial design and production series department. Bäck's first major work was the design of the A-model tableware in 1959. The GB-model tableware is probably the best known of Bäck's designs. Bäck also designed decorations for his tableware models such as Kultavanne, Kanerva, Inari, Kasino and Kuusamo. Bäck retired from the Arabia factory in 1986.