Although I am true to my Swedish roots, when it comes to design and especially kitchen design, I look to Finland.

There is one company in particular – Iittala – that has so many pretty yet functional things for the kitchen, I don’t know where to start.

When I grew up, what constitutes Iittala now was three different companies; Arabia for china services, Iittala was glassware and Hackman pots, pans, knives etc. There are even more companies owned by the Iittala group but they have kept there own brandnames, where as Arabia, Iittala and Hackman all merged intoIittala.

The most famous design by Iittala are wavy bowls and vases designed by Alvar Aalto, one of the most famous Finnish (and Scandinavian) designers.

If you want to buy Iittala product there are a few good webistes, and also John Lewis and other department stores has some of the range.

http://www.skandium.com/search_results.asp?keywords=iittala

http://royaldesign.co.uk/Iittala.aspx