CUP with HANDLE

MARITA LYBECK｜1906–1990｜FINLAND

Marita Lybeck was a Finnish female designer and ceramicist.
Her brother was Nils-Gustav Hahl, an art historian and critic known as one of the founding members of ARTEK.
Through her brother, she interacted with key figures of the modernism movement of the time and designed ceramics and textiles for ARTEK at the request of Aino Aalto.
She worked on fabrics for Alvar Aalto's furniture exhibited at the 1937 Paris World's Fair and some of the tableware for the SAVOY restaurant.

In 1947, she established her own studio, EMMEL. She presented tableware based on a modern and innovative design philosophy, featuring simple forms with minimal decoration using local red clay, and allowing for free combination and stacking, all handmade with traces of the artisan's touch.
In 1951, she held a successful solo exhibition at ARTEK titled "Form och funktion i rödlera (Form and Function in Red Clay)." However, fierce price competition with industrially mass-produced tableware sharing the same design philosophy, exemplified by Kaj Franck's KILTA series, led to the closure of her studio in 1957.

From 1957, she served as the art director of KERA, a local pottery manufacturer that had produced ARTEK ceramics before the establishment of EMMEL, remaining there until 1958.
Subsequently, she worked as a manager in the art and design department of the Stockmann department store in Helsinki.
She received a silver medal at the Milan Triennale in 1954.