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Side view of Kaj Franck's 1956 KF 235 Flying Saucer, showing the broad geometric profile, dark purple and electric blue Finnish art glass appearing to hover above the surface.
Top down view of rare 1956 Kaj Franck KF 235 Flying Saucer / UFO (Lentävä lautanen) in purple and blue Finnish art glass, photographed for Art & Utility design gallery in the United Kingdom.
A rare mid-century Kaj Franck KF 235 Lentävä lautanen glass vase with a conical UFO shape, featuring a dark tyrian-purple top section that transitions into a vibrant and crystal-clear sea-blue turquoise band. This glass art object is an important example of 1950s Finnish Modernist glass design
Zoomed in image of a collectable Kaj Franck Flying Saucer / UFO in cased and flashed glass, model KF 235 for Nuutajärvi Notsjö, demonstrating Franck's experimental use of colour and geometry.
A close-up of a translucent glass vase with a conical top. Rare Kaj Franck KF 235 Finnish art glass in deep sea blue and Tyrian purple, with light refracting through the thick sculptural Flying Saucer form.
Sculptural Kaj Franck Flying Saucer for Nuutajärvi Notsjö, Finland, composed of two truncated cones joined base to base in richly coloured cased glass.
1956 Kaj Franck Lentävä lautanen art object for Nuutajärvi Notsjö, an experimental Finnish glass design combining geometric form with complex optical colour.
Close view of Kaj Franck's scarce KF 235 Lentävä lautanen showing the vase's mouth and hollow purple interior surrounded by deep transparent blue and clear flashed glass.
Close-up of the mouth opening of a Kaj Franck KF 235 Lentävä lautanen, or Flying Saucer, designed in 1956 for Nuutajärvi Notsjö, Finland, in purple and sea-blue cased glass.
Kaj Franck KF 235 Flying Saucer viewed from above, revealing the circular geometry, hollow centre and changing purple and blue tones within the glass. The photo also shows the hand written etched signature dated 1958.
A close-up of small scratch to surface of Kaj Franck KF 235 Lentävä lautanen sculptural glass object, a distinctive work of post-war Finnish Modernism designed for Nuutajärvi in 1956.
Underside or base of a rare Kaj Franck Lentävä lautanen KF 235 art glass object for Nuutajarvi glassworks, its flattened double-cone form inspired by a 1950s flying saucer. Hand-etched signature reads 'K. Frank, Nuutajärvi Notsjö, 1958'.
Close-up of etched hand-written makers mark signature to base of Kaj Franck Lentävä lautanen KF 235, one of the designer's scarcely seen Nuutajärvi glass objects, designed in Finland during the 1950s Space Age. Reads 1958.
Kaj Franck 'Lentävä lautanen' / ‘UFO’ / ‘Flying Saucer’ art object. An incredibly rare, museum quality, art object produced by Nuutajärvin Notsjö glassworks, 1956. For sale in the UK from Nordic design gallery Art & Utility.
Nuutajärvi Notsjö

Kaj Franck KF 235 'Lentävä lautanen' (Flying Saucer) Art Object

£1,200.00 £0.00
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A model KF 235 'Lentävä lautanen' ('Flying Saucer'), designed by Kaj Franck in 1956 for Nuutajärvi Notsjö, Finland.

One of the rarest and most scarcely seen designs by Kaj Franck, this sculptural art object reveals a more playful and experimental side to his work.

Designed during a period of immense technological optimism, the piece takes its inspiration and name from the flying saucers that captured public imagination worldwide during the 1950s. Composed of two truncated cones placed base to base, its broad flattened profile unmistakably evokes the popular image of an unidentified flying object, whilst remaining sufficiently abstract to be chic.

Indeed, the success of the object lies in its ambiguity. Viewed from one angle it appears almost weightless, hovering just above the surface upon which it rests. From another, it becomes a weighty exercise in pure geometry, composed of simple yet substantial cones with carefully balanced proportions.

Moreover, like many of Franck's most successful glass objects, Lentävä lautanen relies upon the material itself for much of its visual effect. That said, describing precisely how light behaves within this design is difficult.

Not only is the exterior of the object a rather unusual prism, in the truest sense. The hollowed out interior, emphasised using glass blowing colour techniques, introduces an additional optical complexity.

The glass used to produce this design is both cased and flashed. At its core is a Tyrian-purple interior, cased in a dark yet crystal-clear sea blue, before being finished with a thin flashed layer of clear glass.

Combined with the complex form, the result is an interplay of refraction and reflection which confounds density and transparency, as the object continually changes according to its surroundings and the position of the viewer.

Both a product of its era and remarkably contemporary in appearance, 'Lentävä lautanen' remains one of the most distinctive, imaginative, and technically brilliant objects produced by Nuutajärvi Notsjö.

Model number: KF 235

Model Name: 'Lentävä lautanen' 

Designer: Kaj Franck 

Manufacturer: Nuutajärvi Notsjö 

Year of Design: 1956

Dates Produced: 1956-58

Colour: Purple, blue, yellow, clear

Height: 10 cm, Diameter 17 cm

Condition: Perfect 

Branding: Hand etched signature & date, ‘K. Franck Nuutajärvi Notsjö -58.