Iittala at Wintergarden – timeless design finds a new context

Iittala has shaped the aesthetic and feel of Finnish homes for generations – quietly, persistently, and in a way that few design brands anywhere in the world have managed. Their objects carry the kind of cultural weight that accumulates through decades of daily use: on kitchen tables, at dinner parties, in the particular quality of Nordic light on a glass surface. This spring, at Wintergarden Bar, they find a context that no one has given them before.

Hotel St. George has always treated culture as a living part of the guest experience: through its collection of over 400 works of art, the building's history as a printing house, and a long-held belief that beauty is a way of thinking. As a member of Design Hotels and one of the most design-ambitious hotels in the Nordic region, St. George and Iittala share a fundamental premise – that the form and story of an object carries meaning, which deepens through use.

This spring for the first time, Iittala's most iconic glass designs – Ultima Thule, Tundra and the Aalto vase – have served as the creative brief for a cocktail menu. The drinks were created from the objects outward, following the logic of each vessel to its conclusion.

The bartender with a designer's eye

Tuomas Hämäläinen has been named Finland's best cocktail bartender for two years running. Designing Wintergarden's new signature menu, he now reached for the glass before the recipe.

The collaboration came together from several directions at once. Iittala's evolving brand direction and the approaching 90th anniversary of the Aalto vase coincided with the planning of a new menu, while Hämäläinen's own admiration for Iittala runs deep and long. "When I started putting the pieces together," he says, "the ingredients for something special were right there."

The glass as muse

Hämäläinen has long believed that a glass of a cocktail is never neutral – that its weight, surface and the way it catches light all inform how a drink is experienced. The new menu put that conviction to work.

Hämäläinen worked with three Iittala classics. Ultima Thule's irregular, ice-textured surface, born from the image of a river breaking free of winter, called for something rooted in Nordic nature. The inspiration runs deeper than surface qualities, however. "What I was really responding to is the iconic craftsmanship that Ultima Thule and Tundra represent," Hämäläinen says. "The drinks draw from the same source – Finnish nature, Finnish making."

Tundra, with its cool geometric facets, guided a different sensibility: crisper, more precise. The Aalto vase, the most recognisable silhouette in Finnish design, turning 90 this year, takes on a role that feels almost ceremonial. Used here as a shared table cocktail, it is a drink meant to be poured and passed among the table. "Design and art are made to be shared," Hämäläinen says. "The Aalto vase is the perfect expression of that. The idea came together very quickly."

A language already shared

For Iittala, the collaboration felt right from the first conversations. "St. George has a genuine appreciation for design," says Heidi Valkola, PR and Communications Manager at Iittala. "The way they approach the details resonates strongly with how we think. Early on there was a feeling that we were speaking the same language – that design is about building experiences and enabling meaningful moments."

For Valkola, the Aalto vase's anniversary year is an invitation to look forward as much as back. "The significance of a classic comes precisely from the fact that it remains relevant and speaks to new generations. This year, we want to reinterpret this iconic design and to return to the essence of Aalto's thinking, while bringing new perspectives to it."

The story behind the drink

The project has reinforced something Hämäläinen already believed. "A great cocktail is not just about flavour. It is about the story behind it." The menu does not ask guests to know any of this, the drinks stand on their own. But for those who want to follow the thread, there is plenty of it to pull.

Iittala x Wintergarden Signature Cocktails are available from 23 April 2026 at St. George. Read more & see menu.