Kaj Franck

On 9 November 1911, Kaj Franck was born in the Finnish city of Vyborg . That he would later become a designer is perhaps not very surprising, as he was the grandson of designer Johan Jacob Ahrenberg. Ahrenberg was a well-known architect and writer who created the first designs for products of the Arabia porcelain factory. So designing was in the family! Like his grandfather, Franck also began working for the Arabia porcelain factory. For Arabia, he designed the world-famous Kilta service, among other things.

In addition to his work at the Arabia porcelain factory, Franck also became artistic director at the glass factory Iittala Nuutajärvi. Iittala has since grown into a world-renowned company, in part because of Franck. Due to the influence he had within the design world, more and more designs from the 1960s onwards were made with simple and clean shapes. Since then, this has been seen as typical characteristics of Finnish design. Well-known collections designed by Kaj Franck are: Iittala Teema, Iittala Kartio.