ULLA PROCOPÉ (born 1921 in Helsinki, died 1968 in Tenerife) graduated as a ceramist from the Central School of Arts and Crafts and began work at the Arabia factory's hand-painting department under Olga Osol, from where she moved after two years to the model and decoration department.

Procopé resumed work at Arabia in 1956 at the factory's Product Design Department, where she made a significant contribution as a designer at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s together with Kaarina Aho and Kaj Franck. Ulla Procopé worked at Arabia until 1967. Underlying her commercially popular designs was her successful cooperation with model makers, the factory's laboratory, and the kiln attendants. She was also a skilled wheel-turner and she designed the decoration of her pieces mostly on ceramic models by painting and using decals.

She also carried out many firing experiments. Procopé's best-known designs are the Liekki oven bowl collection, the ND tableware service with the hand-painted Valencia motif in cobalt blue, and the S service with Ruska decoration, in which Arabia used matte glaze for the first time in mass-produced utility ware.

Her ability to design and create functioning models from ceramic paste was significant for the success of Arabia in the 1950s and 1960s. During her career, Ulla Procopé participated in numerous exhibitions of design in Finland and abroad.

Source: ARABIA Ceramics│Art│Industry by Marianne Aav, Elise Kovanen, Marjut Kumela, Helena Leppänen, Susanna Vakkari, Susann Vihma, Tapio Yli-Viikari - published by Designmuseo, 2009.