Arabian tehtaat (Arabiafabrikerna)

English translation (from the Finnish)

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Description

Arabia tehtaat was the most important porcelain production plant of the 20th century and an export company that gained international recognition for the design of its products.

The Arabia porcelain factory, with its large buildings, is concentrated on the plot between Hämeentie and the sea, on the western shore of Vanhankaupunginselkä. Of the buildings from the founding period of the Arabia factory, from the 1870s, two red-brick production buildings remain at the southern edge of the plot. The buildings were later extended and joined into a dense building mass. In the low row of brick buildings along Hämeentie is reportedly the only circular kiln surviving from the 1890s, along with later workshop buildings.

The tall, clinker-faced buildings along Hämeentie date from the 1940s. The southern gable and the staircase hall of the eight-storey production and office building are decorated with reliefs by Mikael Schilkin. The Arabia museum is located in this building. Behind it, a six-storey wing connects the building to the oldest tunnel kiln building, completed in 1929. At the far end of Hämeentie is a nine-storey production and tunnel kiln building.

The building stock also includes, among others, two newer tunnel kiln buildings, of which the newer was completed in 1979 and the older, on the sea side, in 1937.

After the 1970s, industrial activity has decreased, and the former production premises now house, among others, Taideteollinen korkeakoulu, Mediakeskus Lume and the Pop- ja Jazz Konservatorio.

History

Arabia Porcelain Factory was founded in 1874 as a subsidiary of the Swedish Rörstrand ceramics factory. The factory site was established in Vanhaankaupunki, Helsinki, on the Annala lands, on a plot named Arabia.

Rörstrand sold its shareholding in Arabia to Finnish owners in 1916. The factory was modernised and its production was automated. In 1929 a 112-metre continuous-operation tunnel kiln was completed, and an export department and the Kauniimpaa käyttötavaraa department were established, among other things. At the same time, production technology for sanitary porcelain also advanced.

An artistic director was appointed to the factory in 1932. The art department established by the artistic director made its breakthrough at the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris. The factory's production was rationalised, and the factory site was extended in 1937 with a new building, which included a second tunnel kiln as well as production and office premises.

When the Second World War broke out, Arabia was the largest porcelain factory in Europe in terms of production, employing 1500 workers. Most of its production went to export. The tall office, production and tunnel kiln buildings along Hämeentie were completed in 1942 (architect Karl Malmström) and in 1947 (the architectural office of Elma and Erik Lindroos).

In the difficult economic situation after the Second World War, the factory passed to the Wärtsilä group in 1948. The product range and marketing were developed, and Kaj Franck headed the product design department. In the 1950s, Arabia's artists won numerous awards, including at the Milan Triennales. At the same time, bricks and sanitary porcelain were also produced to meet the needs of post-war reconstruction.

Production was further rationalised in the 1960s, but the factory fell into difficulties because of marketing problems at the end of the 1970s. Production of sanitary porcelain and bricks was discontinued, and production was concentrated on household porcelain. Arabia passed to Hackmann's ownership in 1990. From 2004, Arabia belonged to the Iittala Group, part of the international Fiskars group.