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Inside the world
of Toikka’s
glass birds
Few objects are as closely linked to Finnish glass art as the glass birds created by professor, artist Oiva Toikka (1931–2019). Over the decades, these hand-blown sculptures have found their way into homes, collections, and museums around the world.
The Oiva Toikka glass birds were the most popular and longest-running series in Nuutajärvi’s history. In 2024, they were given a permanent home of their own: Bird Nest (Lintukoto in Finnish). Yet, expanding the collection has proven unexpectedly slow: people simply don’t want to part with their birds.
When the first Flycatcher was created in Nuutajärvi in 1972, few could have predicted that it would mark the beginning of a series spanning nearly a thousand distinct birds. Least of all Toikka himself.
Toikka is known for his extraordinary versatility. His work ranged from unique art pieces to widely produced tableware. The glass birds fall somewhere in between: Art objects that were also produced in series, equally at home on a shelf or in a museum. Approachable, but technically demanding even for experienced glassblowers.
Riitta Nummela, who worked in Nuutajärvi’s marketing for over forty years, witnessed the journey of the birds from a small Finnish village to a global audience.
“It’s fair to say that Toikka is deeply loved among collectors,” she says. “Each bird becomes important to its owner. People don’t want to let them go. As artworks, they are timeless.”
Climbing the birdwatching tower at Nuutajärvi’s Lintukoto allows visitors to spot glass birds through binoculars, too.
ARTICLES
TEXT: VIESTINTÄTOIMISTO JOKIRANTA
PHOTOS: KONSTA LEPPÄNEN
"Toikka valued nature, and it shows in his work."
- RIITTA NUMMELA
Inspired by nature, shaped by freedom
For decades, Nuutajärvi was Toikka’s home. Alongside his vivid imagination, he drew inspiration from the surrounding lakes, forests, plants, and wildlife.
“He was a true lover of nature, and he created birds from the heart,” Nummela explains. “When you look at them, you begin to understand how deep that connection really was.
These are more than objects—they express something profound about the beauty and richness of nature.”
Toikka himself believed part of their appeal lies in familiarity. Birds are something everyone has seen, unlike many wild animals. At the same time, he had a remarkable ability to distill each species into its most essential features, often with a touch of humor and warmth.
“He had a gift for finding exactly the right form,” Nummela recalls. “Once, I recognized a jackdaw by the roadside simply because I had just been looking at Toikka’s version of it.”
Despite his skill as a drawer, Toikka rarely made detailed sketches for the birds. Many were created during free experimentation in the hotshop, shaped organically in collaboration with glassblowers. The available colors and each blower’s individual strengths influenced the outcome.
While many birds are inspired by real species, Toikka himself was particularly fond of those born purely from imagination.
Riitta Nummela’s favorite birds are the blue and white Scaup Ducks of Finland designed to celebrate Finland’s 75 years of independence. “They beautifully represent our independence and reflect Toikka’s close relationship with the Kalevala and with reading in general.”
A demanding form for the maker
The birds rely on a clever manufacturing method developed by Toikka and the glassblowers. The body is first formed with the neck attached to the blowpipe. After it is cut free, the rough opening is sealed by shaping a head and beak from hot glass.
This eliminated the need for cold-working. For the overworked finishing department, the “hot-shop‑ready” birds were a blessing. For the glassblowers, however, the birds were anything but simple.
Glassblower Arto Lahtinen, who has made more Toikka birds than anyone else, began working in Nuutajärvi in the early 1970s and soon found himself blowing the first Flycatchers.
According to Lahtinen, making the birds was a constant balancing act between art and commerce. Consistency was crucial—and difficult.
“In nature, birds vary—but not too much within a species,” he says. “It took real skill to open the annealing oven at the end of the day and find a batch of birds that were all more or less alike.”
Precision was essential in form, pattern, and color. Lustering, for instance— giving the surface a metallic sheen—had to be reproduced in exactly the same tone every time.
Lahtinen names the Magpie as his favorite bird.
“But only if the shape and patterns are exactly as they should be, and the colors follow the original idea. It should have only black and white, with crisp boundaries. The wing must have the same metallic shimmer it has in nature.”
Nuutajärvi’s nature can be seen in the birds, but the birds can also be seen in the craftsmanship of Nuutajärvi’s blowers. Making them taught technique and teamwork.
“Oiva understood glassmaking extremely well,” Lahtinen recalls. “He knew what was possible and what wasn’t—but he also knew how to push boundaries and challenge the blowers.”
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Filigrana stripes can be used to create a feather-like surface pattern. The filigrana technique arrived in Finland first in Nuutajärvi with French glassblowers in the mid‑1800s.
Filigraaniraitojen avulla linnun pintaan voidaan luoda sulkapeitettä jäljittelevä kuviointi. Filigraanitekniikka saapui Suomessa ensimmäisenä Nuutajärvelle ranskalaisten lasinpuhaltajien mukana 1800-luvun puolivälissä.
The Bird Nest exhibition is housed in a former horse stable warehouse—one of the central buildings of the glass village. Nuutajärvi Glass Village is a protected cultural heritage site recognized by the Finnish Heritage Agency.
Birdwatching at Lintukoto—and online
Opened in 2024, the Bird Nest (Lintukoto) exhibition brings the stories of the glass birds together in one place. The permanent exhibition presents a unique panorama of Finnish art glass history and, above all, offers an entirely new way to experience the familiar birds.
Visitors can move among the birds while exploring the stories of both Toikka and the glassblowers behind the works. The scale and diversity of his bird world become tangible in a way that is difficult to grasp otherwise.
“When you stand here among works that express nature’s beauty, you feel the idea rising above commerce. The exhibition brings you closer to Toikka’s vision—why he made these birds and how they shaped Nuutajärvi and the entire Finnish glass industry,” Nummela reflects.
Glass birds can now also be explored online. The Glass Birds by Oiva Toikka index by the Nuutajärvi Glass Village Cultural Foundation brings together bird species from across decades.
Discover Oiva Toikka Bird Nest
The Bird Nest collection consists of birds owned by the Nuutajärvi Glass Village Cultural Foundation, pieces already in the village, loans from other collections, and donated works gathered over time.
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