Vintage Arabia of Finland dishes & tableware

Founded in 1873, Arabia of Finland has become one of the most renowned and highly regarded manufacturers of porcelain dishes in the world. The brand today stands firmly as a vanguard of Nordic tableware design and quality. The intricacy and timelessness of their designs as well as the great quality of their products that were once made in the Nordic countries are the reason that vintage Arabia items are today highly regarded by fans and collectors alike.

All Arabia of Finland dishes & tableware in our shop were produced in the Nordic countries. These beautiful sets are out of production or are nowadays being produced outside of the Nordics. Get them while they are still in stock and add an irreplicable aesthetic brilliance to your dining experience!

A Short History of Arabia of Finland

Arabia of Finland was founded in 1873 as a subsidiary of Rörstrand, a legendary Nordic brand in its own right. The name Arabia stems from a plot of land north of Helsinki on which the first factory was built. Rörstrand’s initial motivation to found Arabia was to gain an easier access to the vast Russian market without having to pay the high import tariffs of the time.

In the very beginning, most of the know-how to create ceramics was imported from Sweden as Finnish ceramic manufacturing was still in its infancy. The first products were made of simple faience and didn’t have any décor. With time, the quality improved and Arabia started producing dishes mimicking sets produced by Rörstrand at the time.

The First World War necessitated the struggling Rörstrand to sell its shares in the factory which lead to Arabia becoming an independent Finnish company. The following decades marked an enormous growth period which saw Arabia acquiring several Swedish porcelain manufacturers in the process, including its original founder Rörstrand.

In the early 1930s, Arabia’s artistic leader at the time, Kurt Ekholm, started the now famous art department that would make the Arabia designs world-famous over the next couple of decades.

Some well-renowned Finnish artists worked for Arabia in the middle of the 20th century, including famous avantgarde arvant-gardists like Kaj Franck, Rut Bryk, Michael Schilkin, Birger Kaipianen or Toini Muona. Later followed the artistic genius of Oiva Toikka.

In the middle of the 20th century, Arabia of Finland developed a new type of stoneware that was oven-proof. Thus, the now famous Ruska series of dishes was born and its hallmark brown color soon became almost synonymous with Finnish stoneware as a whole.

With its rich history and its unique approach of adding timeless artistic merit to everyday household items, Arabia of Finland continues to be one of the flagships of Nordic pottery tradition. A tradition that you can now easily bring into your dining room!