Paula Pääkkönen Finnish, b. 1990

Paula Pääkkönen is a glassblower and artist, whose series of colourful glass ice creams has been noticed all around the world. Glass is her main material because it’s such a challenging element – the glassblowing techniques are an endless source of inspiration for her. As an artist, she is currently working with the theme of childhood, memories and imagination. In her work she is chasing the moment, when common things still have a hint of magic and the proportions of the world may vary, bringing light to darkness, colour to the grey. Pääkkönen uses time-consuming glass sculpting techniques to bring life to the sculptures, as she captures the movement of biting, crashing or melting into this fragile, rigid material. The contrasts of glass as hot and cold, malleable and hard, are an important part of her artistic exploration.

Pääkkönen did her BA studies in Design and then studied glassblowing in the famous glassvillage of Nuutajärvi, graduating finally as a glassblower. She is now working as a freelance glassblower, blowing glass for designers and artists producing their work, as well as working on her own art. Her work has been exhibited at the Venice Glass Weeks, in CHART Art & Design Fair in Copenhagen as well as by many galleries in Finland, such as Lokal Helsinki, UU Market and Auran Galleria.

www.pau-ladesign.com

Instagram: @pau_ladesign

In collaboration with UU Market, Finland.