Nanny Still
{{Short description|Finnish glass designer (1926-2009)}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox artist
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| name = Nanny Still-McKinney
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| image = NannyStill1960.jpg
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| alt = Nanny Still in 1960
| caption = Nanny Still in 1960
| native_name =
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| birth_name = Nanny Elisabet Still
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|07|31|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Helsinki, Finland
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|2009|05|07|1926|07|31|df=yes}}
| death_place = Brussels, Belgium
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| known_for = Glass design
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| spouse = {{marriage|George Clagett McKinney|1958}}
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Nanny Elisabet Still-McKinney (31 July 1926 — 7 May 2009), best known professionally by her maiden name Nanny Still, was a Finnish industrial designer and glass artist, and one of the country's most influential designers of the post-war period.{{cite web |title=Still, Nanny |url=https://uppslagsverket.fi/sv/sok/view-170045-StillNanny |website=Uppslagsverket.fi |access-date=2 April 2022 |language=sv}}{{cite book |title=Kuka Kukin On (Who's Who) |date=1974 |publisher=Otava |location=Helsinki |page=917}}
Career
Nanny Still studied design at the Central School of Industrial Arts in Helsinki (now part of the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture) from 1945 to 1949.
Straight after graduation she joined the design team at Riihimäki Glass, as only their second woman designer, and remained associated with Riihimäki for over quarter of a century, until 1976 when the factory stopped producing artisanal glass.{{cite web |title=Still-McKinney, Nanny (1926-2009) |url=https://kansallisbiografia.fi/kansallisbiografia/henkilo/8408 |website=Kansallisbiografia.fi |publisher=National Biography of Finland |access-date=3 April 2022 |language=fi}} Afterwards she designed for many manufacturers in and outside of Finland, including Rosenthal of Germany.
File:Nanny Still Harlekiini 1958.JPG
Her perhaps best known glass tableware design is the 1958 Harlekiini of simple geometric shapes in a deep Mediterranean blue.{{cite web |title=Still, Nanny |url=https://blf.fi/artikel.php?ref=sok&id=8408 |website=BLF.fi |publisher=Biografiskt Lexikon för Finland |access-date=3 April 2022 |language=sv}}
Still drew attention from early on with her bold use of colours and unconventional shapes. She also became recognised for her technical know-how and mastery of manufacturing methods.
Although best known for glass, Still designed over her long and varied career a wide range of items, from crockery and cutlery to jewellery.
From the 1990s onwards, Still worked mostly on glass sculptures creating utilising in particular the pâte de verre casting technique.
Recognition
In 1972, Still received the {{ill|Pro Finlandia|fi}} medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland.{{cite web |title=SUOMEN LEIJONAN PRO FINLANDIA -MITALIN SAAJAT 1945-2021 |url=https://ritarikunnat.fi/ritarikunnat/palkitut/suomen-leijonan-pro-finlandia-mitalin-saajat-aakkosjarjestyksessa/ |website=Ritarikunnat.fi |date=9 October 2020 |publisher=The Orders of the White Rose of Finland and the Lion of Finland |access-date=2 April 2022 |language=fi}}
Some of her designs are included in the collections of the British Museum,{{cite web |title=Nanny Still |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG224738 |website=BritishMuseum.org |access-date=3 April 2022}} MoMA{{cite web |title=Nanny Still |url=https://www.moma.org/artists/5666 |website=MoMA.org |access-date=3 April 2022}} and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others.{{cite web |title=Results for Nanny Still |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search?q=Nanny+Still&sortBy=Relevance&pageSize=0 |website=MetMuseum.org |access-date=3 April 2022}}
Major retrospective exhibitions of Still's oeuvre were held at least in Belgium (1995, 2006), Finland (1996, 2001) and Hungary (1998).{{cite web |title=Nanny Still, Ambassador of Design |url=https://www.designmuseumgent.be/en/events/nanny-still |publisher=Design Museum Gent |access-date=3 April 2022}}
Personal life
In 1958, Nanny Still married American engineer George C. McKinney, the European and Middle East director of the Virginia Port Authority, and the following year the couple settled in Brussels, where Still lived the rest of her life.{{cite news |last1=Hales |first1=Linda |title=Nanny Still's Epic Glass |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/10/18/nanny-stills-epic-glass/3cb391f1-0b63-406f-ad0d-20eb18c73094/ |access-date=2 April 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=18 October 2003}}
References
{{Portal|Finland|Visual arts}}
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- Koivisto, Kaisa: Glass by Nanny Still: skymaiden (Finnish Glass Museum, 2003)
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Category:Artists from Helsinki
Category:Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture alumni