This is a teacup and saucer of the color version of the masterpiece Crocus by ARABIA, a leading tableware manufacturer in Finland. The plate is a black and white series saucer, so it is offered at a special price.
The name of the series, Crocus, comes from a type of iris flower. The designer is Esteri Tomura, known for Flora, Valm, and Botanica, and is an expert in incorporating natural flowers into his designs.
The Crocus series comes in three versions: black and white, color, and black and white with gray rim, but this is the rare color version for teacup size. The saucer is the same as the black and white version, but it seems that it was originally sold as a combination of genuine products.
Crocus was only produced for two years, from 1978 to 1979. Reproductions have been sold in recent years, but there are certain differences between the vintage version and the original, such as a less formal shape and a reproduction mug that was not included in the original.
The teacup and saucer is a particularly rare, large-sized piece among vintage Crocus pieces, and was produced in very limited quantities. Compared to small coffee cups, tea cups have a high percentage of crazing. With the ARABIA pottery technology of the time, the larger the cup, the more likely it was that crazing would occur, and large, thin tea cups were more likely to have crazing during the manufacturing process. For this reason, small coffee cups that are less likely to have crazing were mass-produced, It is believed that the number of teacups produced was small to begin with, and as a result, Crocus teacups have become a rare item.
■Detailed specifications Manufacturer: ARABIA Designer: Form design: Peter Winquist Pattern design: Esteri Tomula Series name: Krokus Year: 1978-79 Country of manufacture: Finland Condition: ★★★★☆ (4: Excellent condition)
The cup has some scuffs on the inside bottom when held up to the light, but is in excellent condition with no signs of use. The saucer has very fine scuffs near the center when held up to the light.
■Size: Cup diameter 9.3cm, height 6.5cm, saucer diameter 17cm
Esteri Tomula
Esteri Tomura (1920-1998)
Born in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Her father, who was a university professor, bought a villa in the countryside called Urjalan in northwest Helsinki, and her childhood was spent every summer at the villa with her family, which was rich in nature, which deepened her knowledge of nature. be done. Esteri Tomura had a congenital condition called dwarfism, and initially majored in ceramics at Aalto University of the Arts in Helsinki, but due to physical reasons, she was unable to work with clay satisfactorily. Therefore, he gave up on the career of ceramics and sought his own expertise in design.
After joining ARABIA , he honed his skills as a pattern designer with Laiya Uosikkinen, who became his lifelong friend. While Uosikkinen preferred abstract and geometric patterns, Tomura seeks the origin of his designs in the flowers and flowers of Finland, which was the original landscape of his childhood. Tomura, who created masterpieces despite his physical handicaps, has similarities with Birger Kaipiainen, who designed the timeless masterpiece Paratissi despite suffering from polio.