Incollect Magazine - Issue 2

2022 Incollect Magazine 79 custom designed for the Hotel Vaakuna in Helsinki in the 1940s, made of glass, brass and fabric. “The proportion and combination of materials is superb,” qualities indicative he says of the “absolute brand awareness of his work.” Tynell’s innovative use of metal and brass is perhaps the signature feature of his designs for floor lamps, sconces, pendants, and wall lights, which characteristically include enameled or painted metal shades, polished brass or occasionally copper fittings, are clean-lined and frequently decorated with pinhole perforations in simple patterns or shapes in a reference to geometry or nature, like the sky and stars. Tynell began his career as a sheet metal works apprentice and studied metalwork and design at the Central School of Applied Arts in Helsinki where he absorbed the basics of Nordic design with a focus on simple, functional aesthetics and nature. In 1918 with colleagues he co-founded light and metalworking company Taito Oy, which became the first industrial producer of metal light fixtures in Finland. They designed and produced numerous successful lighting products that were sold internationally. Nikitin characterizes Tynell’s approach to lighting design as “practical and rational.” Tynell, he says “found a way to use [metal and brass] in a simple and unusual way, which inspired other manufacturers to start to use turned and stamped metal parts with simple perforation, wires, and mesh decoration. Also, the usage of prefabricated shapes gave him the possibility to create a large number of different models. This reduced the cost of the production and made it affordable for consumers.” Tynell also began to collaborate on making custom lighting fixtures for interiors with numerous architects in Finland and abroad, especially Alvar Aalto, following growing recognition of the originality of his designs. In 1948 he designed several fixtures for New York City’s Finland House, a cultural center promoting Finnish design that also sold Tynell’s Finnish-made lights through the mid-1950s. Later Tynell created lighting designs for the United Nations and the American lighting company Lightolier. Tynell’s lighting designs are not only attuned to the materials and finishes but also questions of light distribution—they are often described by writers as “atmospheric.” Adjustable lamp heights with weights, pulleys or levers enabled controlled and varied lighting effects and can be seen in a rare model “A 1942” pendant lamp in white lacquered metal with a brass counterweight and a pull for height adjustment that is available for sale through Bloomberry in Maastricht. Nature appears and reappears as a source of inspiration throughout his career, at times literal and obvious as in his coveted snowflake chandeliers conceived in the mid-1940s and expanded into more complex designs over the next decades. “Today Tynell has enormous market cache,” John Ballon of Two Enlighten in Los Angeles says, “his name makes people feel comfortable or inclined to pay astronomical prices along with the fact that supply is limited.” Ceiling lights regularly sell in excess of $100,000, while his wall lights and floor lamps have joined the $50,000-$100,000 range. Snowflake chandeliers are his most coveted items, partly because of their beauty and partly because relatively few of them were produced, as all handmade in the Taito Oy workshop on commission. Artnet auction records show that during the years 2019 to 2020, $6.124 million worth of design objects by Tynell sold at auction worldwide, making him remarkably the 7th most popular designer at auction internationally by sales volume. That figure was up dramatically from 2018, when Artnet A pair of chandeliers designed by Paavo Tynell for Hotel Vaakuna in Helsinki, Finland, circa 1940s. Image courtesy of VN Vintage & Modern.