Arabia is not only a part of the city of Helsinki, it is also home to one of Finlands most famous maker of porcelaine and ceramic. In 1873 Finland was the Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomus part of the Russian empire. Finland had previously been a part of Sweden until 1809 when Russia took control of the territory as part of a peace agreement with Sweden. Arabia was founded by Swedish porcelaine maker Rörstrand in 1873. It was located on a piece of land where Rörstrand was granted permission by the Russian Tsar Peter III to build a factory to produce tableware for the Russian market, the land was called Arabia hence the name of the company.
The entrance to the old factory building, there is now a Bistro in this space.
The old factory building houses a store where you can by Arabia porcelaine and also glassware from iittala, another company in the group of companies that Arabia is part of. This building also has a museum where you can follow the history of the factory and see some products, current and older ones.
This sign says in Swedish translated to English:
MUSEUM
Inaugurated May 22 1948
Planned and set up by
KURT EKHOLM
Interior design by
WERNER WEST
lighting fixtures by
PAAVO TYNELL and L. JOHANSSON-PAPE
Below is the sign in Finnish
Art ceramics/glass is part of what Arabia and the other companies in the Fiskars group make as well as tableware, this is part of the Museum exhibition.
The blue diver .
The beloved Moomin family, created by Tove Jansson in the 1930-s. She wrote the first book: “Moomin and the great flood” during the winter war in Finland, when Russia tried, unsuccessfully, to invade Finland . Tove Jansson both wrote and illustrated the Moomin books.
A typical tablesetting with Arabia Paratiisi (Paradise) series designed by Birger Kaipiainen that Arabia started making in 1969 and they are available currently as well.
The Moomin cups
This piece was designed by Michael Schilkin, Russian
born (May 1 1900 – died May 3 1962) who designed pieces for arabia .
The factory building and the new addition from across the street.