Arabia Finland - Saara

I recently came across the striking design pictured in the first image here, by Arabia Finland. We don't get a lot of variety with Arabia designs here in Australia - so its great to find a design such as this.

It is "Saara" or "Sarah", and was produced c1971-1976. It's designer was Anja Jaatinen-Winquist (b1934 - ). Anja also designed "Paju", "Karelia","Kaira" and "Kalevala" in the same era.

Interestingly I found out doing this little bit of research, that the name "Kalevala" was used twice for different designs by Arabia Finland. The one we are most familiar with is the series of Christmas Plates with the same name, but the name Kalevala actually refers to an epic and important Finnish poem, which you can read the story of on THIS beautifully designed Japanese website/store.

Arabia Finland Saara

Anja worked at the Arabia factory for over 20 years, after graduating in 1955 from the Helsinki School of Applied Arts. At Arabia she created handmade decorative works for Arabia Studio in Stoneware, as well as several tableware designs. Some of these designs were in conjunction with her husband Peter Winquist (b 1941 - ) who also worked at the Arabia Factory as a designer 1967-1974.

Arabia Kalevala - Image from THIS beautiful Japanese website 

Arabia Karelia - Photo by ChomleyStreet on Etsy (Australia) 

Arabia Paju (Variation) , Photo by ChomleyStreet, Etsy, Australia 

Arabia Kaira - Photo by Norden Design shop, Netherlands, HERE