Tapio Wirkkala studied decorative art and sculpture at what today is the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture from where he took his degree in 1936.
After World War II, Wirkkala began working at an advertising agency as a graphic artist. In 1946, he won the first prize in a competition organized by Iittala Glassware. This inspired Wirkkala to continue his work with glass, regarded as his most prominent material with pieces such as the Kantarelli vases for Iittala. Wirkkala also continued to work as a graphic artist and an exhibitions designer.
Wirkkala worked in a wide variety of materials. In 1947, he won a competition for the new Finnish banknotes, which were used until the 1980s. At the 1951 Triennale di Milano, Wirkkala won a Grand Prix for his glass, wood, and exhibitions design. In 1952, he designed the stamps for the Summer Olympics in Helsinki. For the Finnish company Kultakeskus, Wirkkala designed vases, plates, and cutlery in silver.
From 1955, Wirkkala worked for Raymon Loewy in New York, where he, among other tasks, designed door handles for cars. During this time, he also began a collaboration with the German porcelain manufacturer Rosenthal, for whom he designed the table services Finlandia and Century. In 1959, Wirkkala joined the Italian glass manufacturer Paolo Venini as a designer. Seven years later, in 1966, he founded his own design studio in Helsinki.
During the 1950’s Wirkkala began working in aircraft veneer, creating abstract sculptures such as Etana (eng. The snail), Pyörre (eng. The vortex), and the nine-meter-tall Ultima Thule, which was presented at the World Exhibition in Montreal in 1967.
As a furniture designer, Wrikkala is best known for the pieces he designed for Asko Oy, including Rythmic Plywood, a coffee table designed in 1957 with laminated maple, birch, padouk, and oak wood, as well as the chair Nikke from 1958 made of laminated teak veneer and chromed steel tube legs.
From 1951 to 1954, Wirkkala worked as the artistic director of Helsinki Central School of Industrial Design. In 1955, he received a Pro Finlandia Medal and, in 1972, the Academy of Finland's honorary title of academician. In 1971, Wirkkala was appointed HDI by the Royal College of Art in London. During the 1970s, Wirkkala took the initiative to found a Sami Culture Center which was realized in 1998 as the Siida in Enare, Finland.
Abroad, Tapio Wirkkala is represented at a.o. the MoMA Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Swedish National Museum of Fine Arts in Stockholm.
