This shallow bowl belongs to Kasvimaalla, a series of Finnish art glass designed by Pertti Santalahti for Humppila glassworks in the late 1970s. The designer's name and the year 1979 are moulded into the glass, and the original gold-and-white Humppila foil label is still attached to the rim.
Kasvimaalla translates as "in the vegetable patch", and the title is easy to read in the form: a broad border of clear glass rises in curled, deeply veined lobes that recall cabbage or lettuce leaves, while the centre is coloured a warm amber that darkens towards brown. A raised dot pattern covers the coloured well, catching light differently from every angle and giving the heavy glass a lively surface.
Humppila, founded in south-western Finland in the early 1950s, became known in the 1970s for thick, sculptural mould-formed glass with strong nature motifs, and Santalahti was one of the designers who shaped that look. The Kasvimaalla line stayed in production into the mid-1980s in clear, green, blue and brown versions; the two-tone clear and amber combination seen here is among its most graphic.
Used as a fruit dish or simply left empty on a sideboard or windowsill, the bowl works as a small piece of sculpture. As with all vintage glass, this is a single, individually sourced example.
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