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Wood artist of the year Ilona Rista
Textile artist of the year Maarit Salolainen
Fashion designer of the year Daniel Palillo
Industrial designer of the year Kirsi Svärd
Furniture designer of the year Mikko Laakkonen
Graphic designers of the year Anna Ahonen & Katariina Lamberg
IDENTITY
On my part, wood as a material has undergone huge amounts of research work.
But what is really essential is art.
In reality my work enables me to touch, design, modify and go deeper than the surface into these [textiles].
I enjoy the way I can send a message out into the street. I think it's really cool.
Think differently, always think how something could be done differently.
There are still many things that haven't been done or realized.
I've always aimed to do things as well as possible, so that they are durable.
It's the common question of how to express your own style and taste, without copying yourself.
That's a question we contemplate very often.
PROFESSION
I've been lately designing products that mostly have to do with living and construction,
that would be products for building service and interior decoration.
But what I do is pure industrial design work.
Maybe it is easier to talk about projects.
We design visual identities, be they a record cover for a musician, a book, or a larger whole,
like a company identity that includes logo, colour scheme and even interiors.
I want to do things that I like, and at the moment they are clothes.
Ideas probably start developing through the architect I'm discussing with,
he is in some way familiar with my work.
And already from the beginning it is clear what is wanted,
be it something like a background, a wallpaper or some specific theme.
From there I usually make several sketches or put thoughts on paper.
I'm a textile designer.
Much of my work focuses on collection design.
A collection designer and concept creator defines the idea and spirit of the collection,
and selects the patterns, colours and fabrics that fit it.
I design all kinds of everyday objects, furniture, light fixtures, ceramics and glassware.
Everything that people use.
Personally I'm not very interested in designing frequency converters
or in so called hard core industrial design.
Objects for everyday use.
COOPERATION
The process involved with textile design is very much a question of teamwork.
If you think about any grand designer name, then they also have a team standing behind them.
In my own work I emphasize the skill and importance of the team.
We do pretty much everything together.
A very symbiotic way of working.
Our team and contact network is large, but it is customized to fit each project.
It's important for me that working is fun and that we understand each other with the client.
I'm not doing the decisions by myself, this needs to be emphasized.
I do them together, with at least the client representative.
JOB DESCRIPTION
I think more about functionality.
When people buy something for the home, be it a frying pan, a glass object or what ever,
then the functionality of the object needs to work well.
Some times the use might be purely aesthetic.
But then it needs to functions as an aesthetic object.
Research work and walking my own path are probably natural qualities for me.
I don't take part in mainstream ideas.
When you don't look to the sides and keep following your own path,
then it really takes you forward.
Then you don't need to think that the grass is greener on the other side.
You can place your trust in your own work.
I strive for both in form and functionality after simplicity and unambiguity.
It means that it would be nice if the client or consumer would say
“This is how it should have been done!” when they see the product.
Textile design is such a complex process.
If we for example look at this piece of fabric.
It has this pattern, but the pattern would be nothing
without all the effects on the fabric surface, without the specific weave.
My work is to go deeper than the surface pattern and think of the underlying structures.
During the design work we are both involved and juggle [ideas] between each other.
When one of us runs out of steam on a subject the other one takes over.
I've noticed that the way I work is quite close to that of a method actor.
I take a role for myself and go deep into it.
I made a collection inspired by motorcycle culture and went really deep into the scene.
I got myself a motorcycle and transformed myself into this biker dude.
I feel that it's much easier to draw from it when your inside the theme your working with.
INTERNATIONALITY
When we are working on something,
we might know the best person for a specific task from Finland,
and they come over to do work in Paris or Japan.
Distance is no longer a hindrance, which is really really nice.
I had an event in Japan and there was this group of around thirty persons present,
all wearing only my clothes.
It was like this underground culture of people only using clothes designed by me.
They were showing of a bit and telling me that “Look, I've got this shirt and beneath it this other shirt”.
It got even a bit menacing with them proving to me that this is their thing.
Some had even learnt Finnish and we drank Finlandia ***.
It was quite unusual.
It's easy to work with Finnish companies when we talk the same language
and more or less understand each other.
But I don't believe that design is in any way bound to a specific country.
If you intend to make a living doing this work or be a designer,
then you have to go global, or at least try to operate outside Finland.
The type of effectivity that doesn't exist in France.
And functionalism, simplicity and minimalism
probably comes so deep from our Finnish roots that it shows.
In today's world there is no reason why a designer or textile designer should work locally.
Because we have the Internet, emails, Drop box and all kinds of other platforms that simplify file transfers.
On top of that DHL arrives in a few days from India to Finland.
When I work on wood, then we are already deep in the core.
And combining that with information technology,
which is another value considered deeply Finnish today.
And adding architecture and acoustics to those,
then we are in some kind of holistic sphere of thinking.
And I couldn’t imagine myself drawing a single line without that national identity.
Domesticity means that it can't be an absolute value.
It's a kind of communality, which is widely spoken of today,
and this is a community you want to do something good for.
I would like to be part of the work we are doing in ensuring that we as a nation stay successful.
Because we have a lot that is good and plenty of useful competence to export abroad.
But we should locate the even more specific skills that nobody else has.
MESSAGE
The main message is that people shouldn't take their clothing so seriously.
I think that there should always be something fun in it.
I tip my hat to those who wear my clothes, I think they are brave and cool people.
What I do myself, as I've brought my material into the sphere of information technology,
is essentially part of the message.
I become a link in the chain that brings my own material [wood] into this day.
My message for today is that traditional materials like wood are fully capable of living in this time.
If we consider ecological factors as societal influence,
then I at least strive in the solutions that I'm part of designing for endurance,
both aesthetic and technical.
They shouldn't be trendy. Well they need of course to follow their time,
but not be spurs of the moment that die away instantly.
I believe in well designed products with a story.
With a story I mean that if its an old object of my grandpa's,
either made by himself or acquired by him,
then it's going to stay in the family or the world for a longer time.
Maybe that's plenty of message to aim for, to design objects with real meaning.