“The Waiter” is a glass, bird-like figure designed by the late Finnish artist Oiva Toikka for the glass makers Iittala. The figure stands about 200mm high and exudes a wonderfully comical sense of smugness and confidence, possibly born out of being immaculately dressed. This isn’t someone you feel makes mistakes. There is an almost cartoon-like simplicity in his appearance but as with all great cartoons, a few simple lines express a great deal.
Glass, but not obviously so
On first glance it’s maybe not obvious what The Waiter is made from. It’s not until you hold him that you feel the weight and cold of glass. The glass is described as opalescent, meaning that it allows some light through (translucent) but tends towards being opaque (not permitting light). This latter effect is enhanced by the surface being microscopically textured giving a frosted rather than reflective finish. Only the beak is smooth and shiny. The rest of the figure was, I believe, sandblasted to give the frosted finish (although I read that a similar effect can be achieved with acid). It’s a surface texture I really like in glass, although it’s not so often seen.
On my most recent visit to Venice I noticed a small percentage of millefiori dishes were being made with the same finish. It was there that it was explained to me that the frosting was achieved with sandblasting but also that it was a newer fashion. I assumed it would become more common and maybe easier to obtain but that doesn’t, as yet, seem to be the case. Maybe I need another visit to check?
A clever use of frosting
The frosted finish is used on all areas of the figure where you would expect to see feathers on a bird. Whilst bird feathers can be quite glossy they generally reflect only a diffused light so the choice of the frosted finish is very pleasing. Another benefit of the frosted finish is that, in a well lit room, polished glass tends to reflect spots of light so much that colours and patterns in the glass can be lost. With the frosted finish that’s much less of an issue especially on the Waiter’s chest where the subtle mottling can be seen clearly in any light. It also makes photographing the subject for a blog a great deal easier!
The piece of glass that makes up the Waiter’s back and wings has an even stranger appearance. You half expect it to be soft. It has an appearance that reminds me of a large gummy sweet. It’s almost as if you expect to be able to bite a piece off and chew it. Finding it hard and cold is not what you’d first expect and it certainly looks as if it should peel off.
The use of smooth glass for the bird’s beak is subtle but very clever. Birds’ beaks are of course a hard and generally smooth in appearance. The use of a different finish to the glass nicely accentuates the difference between the beak and the feathered areas of a bird.
I should say that if you look for other Oiva Toikka designed birds, very few have a frosted finish. They are all amazing pieces but I count myself fortunate to to have started my collection(!) with The Waiter.
A bird, but what sort?
Ask any birdwatcher what they see when they look at a figure of a bird and they will start to try to identify the species. Even where the figure is clearly imaginary, elements of real birds will be picked out. It’s the way your brain becomes wired after years of birdwatching. You don’t see a generic “bird”, you look for identifiable characteristics. In the case of The Waiter, the obvious start is a heron, probably a small heron. The hunched posture with high “shoulders”, short neck and long bill combined with the colour combination in my example leads me to see a Black Crowned Night Heron albeit with a comically long beak.
The Waiter is one of a wide range of birds designed by Oiva Toikka and manufactured by the Finnish company Iittala. Iittala have been producing glass products for almost 150 years and whilst today they produce a wide range of glass items, they are best known for their art glass collections.
Although Oiva Toikka died in 2019, Iittala continue to add a small number of birds to the “Birds by Toikka” and these are always worth looking out for. Most of the figures are actually based on real birds. The style remains true to Oiva Toikka and skill of the glass blowers means that, at least to my eyes, is as good as ever. You can see the latest collections on the Iittala website.
Seeing how it’s done
If you’re interested in seeing how the birds are made, there is an amazing video on YouTube filmed at the Corning Museum of Glass where a group of glassmakers from Iittala make a number of birds in real time. The video is almost 90 minutes long, but the first bird created is actually very similar mine.
An expensive habit
The Oiva Toikka designed birds don’t come cheaply. If you’re interested in building up a collection, you would do well to watch out at specialist glass collectors auctions and fairs. Be warned though that the style is sometimes copied. We’ve even bought and sold a bird figure that was clearly in the same style, although we never made any claim that it was Iittala but not everyone is as honest! The figures are not signed and the only post-purchase identification mark is a small sticker on the base. For collectors and dealers this can be very frustrating. Stickers come off and then a piece becomes something “in the style of” and it isn’t possible to prove the maker. The moral here is that you should look after your collection and keep them dry.
- Charles Homler d/b/a Focus On Wildlife, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons ↩︎
