Iittala focuses on timeless design which can be seen not only in older creations but in the modern classics[citation needed].

[1] Iittala's i-logo in a red circle, designed by Timo Sarpaneva in 1956, was replaced by a new logo in "fire yellow" in 2024.

In April 1881, in the village of Iittalain in the southern province of Finland, the Swede Peter Magnus Abrahamson, after having left the Nuutajärvi glassworks, founded the Iittala Glasbruks Aktiebolag.

They, along with the local Swedish glassblower Johan Fredrik Gauffin, who was part owner, made the first glass objects on November 24, 1881.

In 1865, the Swede Anders Norstedt resigned as administrator of the Nuutajärvi glassworks and moved to Helsinki to handle his business interests.

Clas Norstedt was highly qualified and was the first Finnish professional in the field of glass, but he was content just managing and supervising technical aspects at the glassworks, so he traveled throughout Finland on many commercial business trips.

In 1917, due to the First World War, raw materials began to become difficult to obtain, inflation caused prices to rise, and wages soared, resulting in Norstedt giving up the Iittala glassworks.

Karhula Oy, part of the A. Ahlström Group (a timber refinery), bought the Iittala glassworks, and Norstedt resigned from the board in March 1917.

Up until 1910–1920, Iittala Glassworks produced glassware using imported molds, resulting in products that were very similar within Finland and abroad.

Hongell initiated collaboration between designers and glassblowers by bringing drawings to the glass workshop to ask about technical aspects of blowing the object.

This was continued when Hkan Södermaström became the administrator in 1950 and further pushed the Iittala glassworks to apply design to the entire range of products.

Glass manufacturing was relocated to another Ahlström business unit in 1985 since Iittala was now focused mainly on exports.

[2] With a few exceptions, until the 1920s Iittala's glassblowers, product models and designs still came from Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Belgium.

Through an initiative by then deputy director Claës Norstedt in 1903 Alfred Gustafsson created his most famous works, the glass tumblers series Great Men.

This series was a passive protest against Russian rule and depicted men that were instrumental to Finnish society and culture.

Hongell initiated collaboration between designers and glassblowers by bringing drawings to the glass workshop to ask about technical aspects of blowing the object.

In 1932 Aino Aalto entered and earned second place in the Karhula-Iittala design competition with her Bölgeblick series.

The glass was presented to international audiences in London in 1933 and at the Milano Triennial in 1936, where Aino Aalto won the gold medal.

Järvinen was very pleased with the outcome of the competition and Wirkkala and Franck were given free rein to design art glass at the Iittala glassworks.

[10] Göran Hongell's Aarne glass set, designed in 1948, was awarded a gold medal at the 1954 Milan Triennale – and is still in production.

[12] At the Fairs in Helsinki in 1950, Karhula-Iittala was awarded gold for their products and the public voted Tapio Wirkkala's Kantarelli as the most beautiful object at the exhibition.

3 Grand Prix's were awarded to Tapio Wirkkala and Timo Sarpaneva received a Silver Medal.

[19] Oiva Toikka created the dew drop glassware Kastehelmi in 1964, which along with Tapio Wirkkala's glasses Ultima Thule from 1968 are still in production today.

][21] In 1998 Stefan Lindfors designed the strikingly and unconventional open handled ceramic series Ego.

[24] Anu Penttinen's clear and strong coloured glass boxes Vitriini from 2010 marked another new direction for Iittala's products.

With a modern interpretation of Finnish traditions and 6 designers the tableware Sarjaton, meaning no series, as the colours and style are interchangeable, using ceramic, glass, wood and textile as materials, was launched in 2012.

Wirkkala had exceptional skills in glass making and his close collaboration with workers resulted in new techniques and lasting masterful design objects.