The Pigduck designed by the artist Alvar Gullichsen swam along the River Aura to Turku in 1999. The sympathetic hybrid of a rubber duck and a marzipan pig sitting next to Helsingintie road has been greeting the citizens of Turku and visitors coming to Turku for 20 years already.
-The Pigduck is now of fertile age and it was its time to breed little ones to delight the citizens of Turku and other people, says the artist Alvar Gullichsen.
The Pigduck is located in the area of Turku’s Student Village in front of Spa Hotel Caribia. It is 7.5 metres long, a good four metres wide and five metres high. The statue is constructed of reinforced plastic with steel support. The Pigduck was ordered by Pro Cultura Foundation as part of the sculpture city project of Turku and the statue belongs to the collections of the Museum Centre of Turku. Gullichsen had got the idea of Pigduck after having seen big plastic sculptures of Bugs Bunny and other cartoon characters in Warner Bros’s shop in London.
The first versions of the Pigduck were published in an oil painting on a record sleeve by Laika & The Cosmonauts. The Pigduck was created by the entrepreneur in plastics Bjarne Ölander, and the original was moulded by the Estonian sculptor Matti Varik.”
The small pigduck statues weigh about 20 kilogrammes and are about 1 metre high and look just like their mother. They are made of glass fibre. The statues are placed on pedestals in the halls of Silja Line, Viking Line and the airport. The story of the Pigduck is written on a plate attached to the base of each statue.
The Pigduck is the City Animal of Turku
In honour of the anniversary year 2019 the Pigduck receives a title of the official City Animal of Turku. This means that the Pigduck is from now on presented with the title in question in the communications and marketing of the city.
In 1997 the City of Turku has chosen a stock dove as an official animal, an oak as an official plant and a weeping milkcap as an official mushroom. They illustrate the typical and important species of the city. The then Environmental Protection Office of Turku took part in selecting them. Southwest Finland has also an official animal, fish and bird. They are a fox, a Baltic herring and a jackdaw.
-Nominating the Pigduck as the official city animal of Turku does not threaten the others having the official titles but highlights the role of the Pigduck as a pet of the city. The dove is the official animal of Turku, the Pigduck is the city animal, clarifies Director of Communications of the City of Turku Saara Malila.
The Pigduck in jewellery and T-shirts
The Pigduck is also celebrated with a new series of products created by Kristiina’s Product Design in Turku in cooperation with Alvar Gullichsen. The series includes, among others, ecologically made Pigduck-themed silver jewellery, T-shirts, textile bags, caps, key rings and pastry. The Pigduck is a friend of clean waterways and that is why part of the profit of the products is donated to the Keep the Archipelago Tidy Association.
-I wanted to create a series of products specially for the Pigduck because it is such an amusing and sympathetic figure. It is also suitable for versatile use, says Kristiina Winter.
The Pigduck jewellery is made with an eco-act method which respects natural values and has been developed by the goldsmith Tomi Hyvärinen and his father, the late famous jewellery artist Matti Hyvärinen
The Pigduck products made by Kristiina Winter are on sale at the Pigduck website www.posankka.fi and also in the museum shops of the City of Turku.
A name contest also opens on 29 April
In the honour of the Pigduck, the City of Turku also announces a contest for names for little pigducks on the Facebook page of the City of Turku.
The prizes for the name contest are three different Pigduck products. The winners get either a Pigduck necklace, Pigduck earrings or a Pigduck T-shirt, bag and cap. The value of each prize is 65 euros.