Imagination to Creation: Oiva's Birds

Finnish glassmaking lands in Corning! The Corning Museum of Glass is excited to once again host guest glassmakers Helena Welling and Juha Saarikko for the third annual Imagination to Creation: Oiva’s Birds. Both gaffers are visiting from the Iittala factory in Finland for a celebration of renowned designer Oiva Toikka’s glass birds.

Since the first birds entered production in 1972, Birds by Toikka is an international institution offering collectors and enthusiasts hundreds of stunning objects to acquire. When asked about his fascination with birds, Oiva Toikka always answers that the birds' fluid form is ideally suited to representation in glass.

Join us for the unique opportunity to watch as gaffers Helena Welling and Juha Saarikko produce Oiva Toikka’s famed bird designs at The Studio Hot Shop of The Corning Museum of Glass.

NEW: As part of the event, we will be taking advanced suggestions for birds already designed by Oiva Toikka that you'd like to see made by Welling and Saarikko. After the event is concluded the birds will be available on-site at The Corning Museum of Glass Shops and at shops.cmog.org.

Browse the full collection of Iittala birds at The Museum Shops.