Savoy Vase, 1936
Iittala, Finland

Designer
Alvar Aalto & Aino Marsio

Material
Glass

Dimensions
W 11.5 cm, H 9.5 cm, D 10 cm
W 15 cm, H 12 cm, D 12.5 cm
W 20 cm, H 16 cm, D 17 cm

The Aalto Vase, also known as the Savoy Vase, is a world famous piece of glassware and an iconic piece of Finnish design created by Alvar Aalto and his wife Aino Marsio. It became known as the Savoy vase because it was one of a range of custom furnishings and fixtures created by Alvar Aalto and Anio for the luxury Savoy resaurant in Helsinki that opened in 1937.

The vase was also designed as an entry in a design competition for the Ahlström owned Karhula-Iittala glassworks factory in 1936. The design was inspired by the dress of a Sami woman. Called Eskimåkvinnans skinnbyxa (the Eskimo woman's leather breech), the design consisted of a series of crayon drawings on cardboard and scratch paper. Aalto created initial prototypes by blowing glass in the middle of a composition of wooden sticks stuck into the ground, letting the molten glass swell on only some sides and creating a wavy outline.

This vase was later displayed for the 1937 World's Fair in Paris and the original height of the Savoy vase was 140 mm.

Aalto never made money with the vase, because the design belonged to the factory for which the design competition entry was produced.