LEENA HYTTINEN

Cluster Crafts Exhibitor| 2024

Leena Hyttinen is a ceramic artist and glass designer based in Tampere, Finland. She received her BA in Glass and Ceramic Design at the Häme University of Applied Arts in 2019, after a MA degree and a career in translation. She now works as an artist/designer and ceramics teacher, and, instead of translating ideas into words, she transforms ideas into visually interesting material realities.

Hyttinen primarily uses sculptural ceramics as her medium, manipulating clay with various hand-building techniques into playful and expressive forms. Material experimentation is important to her. Recently, she has started to incorporate wild Finnish clay into her works as part of the surface decoration or the clay body.

In 2020, Hyttinen participated in Cluster Crafts with her Amuri glass vases. Her ceramic works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Finland, and now, for the first time, internationally.

“I’m inclined towards intuitive and slow working methods with clay, allowing the material to guide my hands after drawing a few sketches of my initial ideas. I portray movement and emotions, playing with forms, surface textures, and colours. At the moment, I’m focused on exploring the importance of softer values and sensuality in our lives with my softly rounded sculptures that feel kind, tender, huggable, and often a bit quirky. I’m also interested in the idea of links and bonds, especially in relation to family, identity, and cultural background, as well as in the idea of transient, ever-moving and subjective gaze. Working with clay reminds me of the physicality of our world, and it keeps my inquisitive mind occupied with its expressive possibilities.”

— Leena Hyttinen