RICE PORCELAIN "OXA" PLATE FK/66

Rice Porcelain was inspired by Chinese "rice grain porcelain" that the artist saw at the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna in the early 1930s and took 10 years to complete.
The openwork patterns are each cut by hand with a special knife by artisans, then bisque-fired at 800°C, glazed, and fired again at 1380°C, causing the cut-out parts to vitrify and the openwork patterns to appear when light passes through them.
Initially, even small pieces were unique items that took four days to produce, but after further research, they began to be manufactured as a product series in 1950.
It was exhibited at the Milan Triennale in 1951.

"OKSA" means "twig" in Finnish.
The cut mark is "ARABIA -F.H.Kj- FINLAND"
*In very good condition with no noticeable damage.

FRIEDL KJELLBERG｜1905–1993｜AUSTRIA

Friedl Kjellberg was an Austrian female ceramic artist. She studied ceramics at the Graz School of Arts and Crafts in Austria and began her career as a ceramic artist at Arabia in 1924 after graduation.

She was also a founding member of Arabia's art department, which was established by Kurt Ekholm in 1933, and served as director from 1948 to 1950, succeeding Kurt Ekholm.

During her 46 years at Arabia, she primarily created art pieces as an artist in the art department.

Her masterpiece, the Rice Porcelain series, announced in 1942, began mass production in 1950 and continued to be manufactured until 1974, becoming a long-selling model and highly acclaimed internationally as Arabia's representative artistic porcelain.

ARABIA｜1873 –｜FINLAND

Arabia was founded in 1873 in the Arabia district on the outskirts of Helsinki as a subsidiary of the Swedish ceramics manufacturer Rörstrand, and began operations the following year in 1874. In 1916, it separated from Rörstrand's capital and became an independent Finnish company.

In 1929, the world's largest tunnel kiln at the time, measuring 112 meters in length, was introduced, establishing production efficiency and a mass production system. This led to Arabia's development into one of Europe's leading ceramic factories.

In 1932, Kurt Ekholm was appointed art director, organizing artistic activities at Arabia into an art department. He created a production environment for artists and established a system to develop both products and art pieces in parallel.

A major characteristic of Arabia is that product development has been carried out through the mutual collaboration of three fields: the art department, the applied arts department, and the product design department.

The art department included artists such as Toini Muona, Friedl Kjellberg, Michael Schilkin, Birger Kaipiainen, Rut Bryk, and Kyllikki Salmenhaara. Their works gained international recognition from the 1930s onwards, contributing to Arabia's cultural aspect and playing an important role in the development of Finnish ceramics.

In the 1940s, Friedl Kjellberg developed Rice Porcelain using the "rice grain porcelain" technique. Mass production began in 1950 and it became a long-selling model that continued until 1974, receiving high international acclaim as Arabia's representative artistic porcelain.

Against the backdrop of functionalism spreading in Northern Europe in the 1930s, Ekholm released the AR series (SINIVALKO) tableware in 1935, setting the direction for later Nordic modern design.

In 1945, Kaj Franck joined the company as a designer and, along with Kaarina Aho and Ulla Procopé, spearheaded the renewal of product design. The Kilta series, released in 1953, achieved great success as innovative modern design tableware characterized by its simple geometric forms and versatility.

Arabia boasts numerous awards since the 1930s, but especially at the Milan Triennale (1951, 1954, 1957) in the 1950s, many products by designers, in addition to works by artists from the art department, received awards, establishing its global reputation.