Nimipäivä vase, long, purple

The Nimipäivä (Name day) vase was designed by Aimo Okkoli and manufactured by Riihimäki Glass. The purple vase, with its beautiful colour and clean-lined design, is a charming and elegant interior detail that provides a lovely setting for delicate flower arrangements. The name day vase is made in several different models and colors between 1959 and 1967.
 
Aimo Okkolin began his career as a polisher and engraver at Riihimäki Glassworks, where he learned to create beautiful geometric shapes from crystal and to use the material's light-reflecting properties. Okkolin is well known for his exceptionally beautiful crystal objects.

Aimo Okkolin

The Riihimäki Glassworks began its operations on February 2nd, 1910. Mikko Adolf Kolehmainen and Aatu Paavo Kolehmainen together with Hjalmar Gabriel Paloheimo, Karl Alfred Paloheimo and Wäinö Bonsdorff founded a limited company with a purpose to build a glass factory in Riihimäki. The first glassware of Riihimäki Glassworks was blown on July 26th, 1910. The production of the glass factory was initially household glass, but already at the turn of the same year, a glass grinding factory was built on the site, where crystal glass grinding started in 1911. The production of packaging glass, such as bottles and cans, began in the same year. From the 1920s onward, Riihimäki Glassworks started to pay more attention to the design side of glass production.

In 1928 organized its first glass design competition. The competition was won by Henry Ericsson, who was later hired for a position of an artistic assistant at the Riihimäki Glassworks. Gradually, art and tableware glass became an important part of the factory’s production. Riihimäki Glassworks employed several notable artists and designers such as Gunnel Nyman, Arttu Brummer, Nanny Still, Aimo Okkolin, Timo Sarpaneva, Helena Tynell and Tamara Aladin. The production of art and tableware glass in Riihimäki Glassworks was discontinued in 1976. The production for window glass had already ended the previous year. Riihimäki Glasswork continued to manufacture packaging glass and plastic packaging until 1990 when all operations were discontinued.