Timeless for 30 Years – and still ahead of it's time
This year marks three decades since the three-legged vase 'Trinity' was created by Bornholm artisan Maibritt Jönsson. At the gallery in Gudhjem, the anniversary is being celebrated with a beautiful exhibition of the vase, which today is available in three sizes and a range of elegant colors that fit perfectly into modern homes. In addition, a very special anniversary edition of the iconic vase is being launched in a limited quantity.
The Trinity vase is deeply rooted in the proud traditions that Nordic design is world-famous for — simplicity and elegance. And once a successful design is completed — and later becomes a classic — it can be difficult to imagine the many considerations behind the design process and the tremendous amount of work involved. Precisely because the finished product appears so simple and almost obvious.
But it was far from obvious back in the 1990s, when Maibritt Jönsson was reflecting on how to create a truly unique vase.
– Most vases require a full bouquet of flowers. I was very interested in how things could be made simpler. I wanted to create a vase where just a few flowers would be enough to create a beautiful expression, she explains.
The idea sparked a long creative process in the glassblowing workshop, where experimentation took place on a large scale. In Maibritt Jönsson’s own words, it became 'a play with tubes'.
A Play with Tubes
Maibritt Jönsson’s original idea was that the vase should somehow consist of open tubes placed into a shallow container:
– It was a curious and creative process that took place in the workshop. We made all the tubes by hand, and it was an enormous task to make them fit together – because it’s not easy to create long, uniform tubes by hand.”
–I experimented with many different expressions – and suddenly, in a remarkable way, you find yourself standing with a result that simply feels completely right: I abandoned the idea of a container, and it became three simple tubes with bases, held together in the middle so they could stand on their own,” she says enthusiastically.
But the challenges were not over yet. Another phase then began, in which Maibritt Jönsson experimented with how the three tubes should be joined together:
– The whole process of figuring out how to assemble it properly and tightly with a kind of belt around the middle was not easy either, because there was nothing on the market we could simply buy and use. So we tested a wide range of possibilities and materials, and eventually we arrived at these black rubber bands — which also did not previously exist. The rubber bands we use today are the result of further development, because rubber can become delicate and affected over time. But these black bands retain their elasticity and color, and they can withstand both sunlight and chemicals.