Arabia Paratiisi

Birger Kaipiainen designed BK-model service for Arabia in Helsinki in 1968. Iconic Paratiisi (Paradise) is the most known decoration for this set. The white, undecorated version, Eeva (Eve) , was mentioned only in the year's 1970 pricelist. Aatami (Adam) was decorated with a blown yellow glaze, it was in production in 1970-1974. Beautifully lush Apila (clover) series in 1970's and again in 2000's. Heini Riitahuhta’s Runo (poem) series was also designed for this same model.

Paratiisi is one of Arabia’s classic designs - it was started in 1969 and is still in production, with the addition of a third colour - purple&green. In the 1970’s, Paratiisi (paradise in Finnish) was originally made from faience pottery and the original plates were oval shaped. Round plates and vitro porcelain used in later production however, is more durable and more versatile in its useability.

Birger Kaipiainen known as “the king of ceramic decorators”, was mad about violets and used them as his signature motif in almost all his designs. The iconic crisp lines and colourful look of the Paratiisi series is thanks to the silkscreen printing technique that gained popularity in the 60s. Silkscreen allowed for multiple colours to be used simultaneously and is used to create today’s colourful printed patterns.

BK-model was first manufactured 1969-1974. It was discontinued because of reorganisation of the production. The colourful Paratiisi was renewed and the production started again in 1988. Paratiisi black returned in 2000 and has been in production periodically since. Until 2016 Paratiisi items were produced in Finland, after which the production moved to Thailand.

The Paratiisi series vitro porcelain is microwave safe, but the older faience versions are not. All Paratiisi items sold by Astialiisa Online are made in Finland.