Finnish lines

Yrjö Kukkapuro’s studio near Helsinki is a temple to the art of sitting down

- EMMA O'KELLY

Dense rows of fir trees punctured by frozen lakes and oxblood red cabins; children in snow boots navigating icy pavements; crystaltipped grass that crunches underfoot. The journey to the studio of Yrjö Kukkapuro on the outskirts of Helsinki is fittingly Finnish. But once inside, all Nordic clichés end. Rows of chairs with colourful legs and graffitisplattered backs are stacked in seemingly random groups; books, paintbrushes, sketches and models occupy every surface; sunlit walls are crowded with images and cuttings, and in the middle of it all sits 86-year-old Kukkapuro in his canary yellow cap.

If anyone has a design back catalogue that sums up the artistic movements and global economic shifts of the past century, it is Kukkapuro. He qualified as an industrial designer in the 1950s, a golden age in Finnish design thanks to Alvar Aalto, Kaj Franck and the like; he witnessed the plastic revolution of the 1960s, the postmodern rebellion of the 1980s, and the ascent of CNC-cutting technology in the 1990s – and embraced them all. In the 1990s, he saw his production shift to China, and found fame there from the 2000s onwards, reaping the benefits of the digital revolution and the onset of globalisation. Every new decade serves to further his reputation and cement his legacy as one of the grand masters of modern design.