In 1956, Tapio Wirkkala began his work as artistic director of A-studio, the design office of the A. Ahlström corporation. The office designed products for Iittala, Strömfors, the Eura paper mills and the Karhula container glass factory. At the same time, Wirkkala began his professional collaborations with the Asko furniture factory, the Upo appliance company and Airam lamp manufacturers.

In 1956, Wirkkala also designed the 275th anniversary exhibition of the Finnish glass industry and a commemorative glass for the occasion

The Smithsonian Institution staged a joint touring exhibition of work by Rut Bryk and Tapio Wirkkala in 1956 –1958. 

Wirkkala designed the Finnish department of the Brussels World's Fair of 1958 , where he won first prize in Habitation 2000, a competition on urban habitation of the future. The Kalvola memorial to the war dead, completed by Wirkkala in 1958, was one of Finland's earliest abstract public works of sculpture.