Tapio Wirkkala: The End of the World / Tokyo Station Gallery

Tapio Wirkkala: The End of the World / Tokyo Station Gallery

[Impression Topic] “Mastering Materials and Design”

Table of contents

Tapio Wirkkala: The End of the World / Tokyo Station Gallery

Overview

  • Exhibition title: Tapio Wirkkala: The Edge of the World / Tokyo Station Gallery
  • Date: Saturday, April 5, 2025 – Sunday, June 15, 2025
  • Venue: Tokyo Station Gallery

The exhibition consisted of around 300 pieces from Espoo Art Museum, Collection Kakkonen and Tapio Wirkkala Rut Bryk Foundation, as well as drawings and photographs.

Among the pieces on display were tableware from Iittala, Rosenthal and Strömfors (now Ahlström), some of which are still available for purchase, lamps from the Metropolitan Gallery, and tools such as Kurotakesuchus and Hackman knives.

The exhibition began on the third floor of Tokyo Station Gallery and took up the entire second floor, down the stairs.

The exhibition is divided into chapters (titled by Tokyo Station Gallery) as follows:

  1. Door to Wirkkala (3F)
  2. All about the materials (3F)
  3. A place of comfort (3F)
  4. Garden of forms (2F)
  5. Colors of Venice (2F)
  6. To the ends of the earth (2F)

About the building

  • Photography is prohibited inside the museum.
  • There is no list of works in the PDF or paper version. The list of works is included in the catalog (booklet) available at the gift shop.
  • Admission to this exhibition is possible with a Tokyo Station Area Art Museum common ticket.
Before imageAfter image

Review “Mastering Materials and Design”

In the first chapter, “The Door to Wirkkala”, which is located in the room where you get off the elevator on the third floor of the exhibition hall, it is written that he is the husband of Rut Bryk, who had an exhibition at Tokyo Station Gallery in 2019, and Bryk’s “Donkey as a Lion” was exhibited alongside Wirkkala’s work.

  • Rut Bryk: The Trail of the Butterfly
  • Saturday, April 27th, 2019 – Sunday, June 16th, 2019
  • Tokyo Station Gallery

It was written that Wirkkala collected Bryk’s works to prevent them from being scattered, and that this led to the current Tapio Wirkkala Rut Bryk Foundation.

The second chapter, “All About Materials”, also on the third floor, was an exhibition of product design, and tableware and lamps designed by Wirkkala were on display. Among them, the lamp, which is still on sale at the Metropolitan Gallery, was a wonderful item with excellent design and practicality. In the exhibition video, Wirkkala is seen carving graphite for the glass mold with a knife, and a caption says, “When you’re doing this, you’re a craftsman, it’s good to carve it yourself.” This shows his love of handiwork.

The last section on the third floor, Chapter 3, “A Place for the Heart,” shows a model of Wirkkala’s house in Lapland, and a video of a building that never came to fruition.

The fourth section begins on the second floor. Many works are also exhibited in this chapter, and what caught my eye were the sculptures that emphasized the joints of the plywood. All of them had beautiful forms, but the shape of the Shell, which imitates a nautilus, was particularly impressive.

The bird sculptures, which are deformed waterfowl that also appeared in Wirkkala’s video, are made of different materials such as wood, bronze, and aluminum, and I could see that he was adept at using a variety of materials.

Before imageAfter image
  • Finnish Glass Art: Shiny and Colorful Modern Design
  • Saturday, June 24, 2023 – Sunday, September 3, 2023
  • Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum (Main Building + New Building)
  • Viewed on August 19, 2023

Chapter 5, “The Colors of Venice,” exhibited colorful glass products, and the color scheme of the works was different from the Venetian glass works I had seen in the past, and the green and purple colors were particularly striking.

At the end of the exhibition in the final chapter, Chapter 6, “To the Ends of the Earth,” Ultima Thule, shown below, and a related video were shown. Ultima Thule was the only work that was allowed to be photographed at this exhibition.

《ウルティマ・ツーレ》

Summary

This exhibition allowed me to appreciate the work of Wirkkala, both artist and craftsman, in a comprehensive way. Since I had only seen his glass works at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, this was the first time I had learned that he was an artist who worked with such a wide variety of materials. I also learned for the first time that he was the husband of Rut Bryk.

The catalogue (booklet) on sale at the gift shop was a nearly square plate measuring 19cm (width) x 21cm (height), and the works were recorded in color. It also served as a list of works in the exhibition, and was reasonably priced at 1,320 yen including tax. Since there was no ISBN attached, it is likely that it can be purchased at the gift shop at Tokyo Station Gallery.

タピオ・ヴィルカラ 世界の果て・Tapio Wirkkala: The End of the World

Reference links

Update history

  • 2025.6.16

Photo equipment

  • HASSELBLAD X2D-100C +HCD24mm +XH-Converter0.8

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