The Finnish word kastehelmi means dewdrop, which refers to the rings of small glass beads that give each piece in the Iittala Kastehelmi collection its distinct character. The idea of using droplets of glass as decoration came to Oiva Toikka when he was thinking of ways to hide the joint marks left by the production process. The result was Iittala Kastehelmi, which features rings of tiny glass bubbles that extend outwards from the center of each piece. Today, as then, Iittala Kastehelmi is one of the most beloved series in the Iittala range.