Meet the maker: Antti Torstensson
If you have held a Palace 52 bowl, you have held something made by Antti Torstensson. Every one of them is blown by hand in his shop outside Sastamala, in western Finland.
Finding Antti
In 2025 I was looking to grow my network of glassblowers. I honestly can't remember exactly how it happened, but after some research and a bit of word of mouth, I found my way to Antti. Our first project together was the Sandwaves tumbler.
I still remember the first time I drove to Sastamala, with the two-piece graphite mould for the tumbler on the seat next to me. The shop sits by a crossroads, in a building that looks like an old gas station. There isn't much else around, just a small village and fields of crops in every direction. It is not where you would expect to find a glass shop, which is exactly what I like about it.
A family craft
The shop is a family business. Antti's father has also been a glassmaker, and you can feel that the craft has been passed down. There is a calm, practical confidence in the way Antti works at the furnace.
Palace 52
Palace 52 was first made for Restaurant Palace in Helsinki, and it is the piece I most associate with Antti. He blows each bowl into an open graphite mould, which gives him more control over the waves in the glass. That control is what gives every bowl its soft, rippled edge.
Because each bowl is blown by hand, one at a time, no two are exactly alike. The thickness, the colour and the movement of the waves vary slightly from piece to piece. To me, that is the whole point.
We have been working together since 2025, and every time I visit the shop by the crossroads, I am reminded why I want our pieces made this way: by a person, close to home, with a craft that runs in the family.