I have worked as a glass artist and artisan throughout my long career and started painting in 2015.
At the beginning of the 1980s, glass was not used in interior decoration in Finland as it is nowadays. Beautiful glass surfaces were simply not available. During one renovation in 1981, it occurred to me that glass and mirrors could be used as interior decoration elements. Thrilled with the idea, I acquired some glass and available glass working tools. I traded my worn-out car for a glass grinding machine. This became the start of my long explorations with glass. The development of new working methods by trial and error was both interesting and exciting time.
Later I found an old glass master who taught me how to make traditional stained glass windows. Convinced of my vision to make innovative glass art, I established a new company, Baltasar.
With the improvement of my skills, I started to design glassworks for my clients’ doors and windows. I made stained and sandblasted glass art to hundreds of homes over the years. My ”mirror paintings”, made of colored mirror pieces, received a lot of attention in Finnish interior decoration magazines. The glass tables and lamps I designed were also well covered by these magazines. The products of Baltasar were considered innovative and interesting.
Tuire Hämäläinen Back To The 80’s
They were also purchased for public buildings. I designed glass art i.a. to Hotel Kämp, Government Banquet Hall, and the headquarters of the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation YLE. The chapel of Hervanta church and lobby of Hotel Ilves in Tampere also has my works. My whole company focused on glass.
The painting came along much later.
At some point, I started to paint abstract paintings. I hang some of them on the walls of my store in Korkeavuorenkatu, Helsinki. The interest of my clients in these works gave a boost to my painting.
In 2015, I stopped making glassworks to focus on painting modern art. I paint with colored inks and fluid acryl colors. These interesting new techniques are still little known in Finland.
Welcome to explore my modern art!
The studio and showroom, in Merimiehenkatu 10, Helsinki, is open to visitors by appointment.
Töitäni voi seurata Instagramissa @tuirehamalainen. You can see the same works also in the Gallery section of these pages.
Thank you for your time!
Best wishes Tuire Hämäläinen
Contacts: tuire@baltasar.fi, phone +358 40 5611006
A longer story of my career (in Finnish) with pictures can be found in kuinka-kaikki-alkoi.