Yrjö Kukkapuro

Born in Viipuri in 1933, Yrjö Kukkapuro is one of the most internationally successful Finnish designers. He graduated as interior architect from the Institute of Industrial Arts in Helsinki in 1958 and founded his own design office, Studio Kukkapuro, in 1959. In addition to producing renowned and award-winning design work, Kukkapuro was a teacher, professor, and rector from the 1960s to the 1990s.

Kukkapuro’s most famous model is the Karuselli Chair, named the most comfortable chair in the world by The New York Times in 1974. With work in the permanent collections of several museums – including the MoMA in New York, London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, and the National Museum of Art in Stockholm – Kukkapuro has exhibited his work in dozens of solo and group shows across the world.

During his extraordinarily long career of over 60 years, Yrjö Kukkapuro has created modernistic furniture for the era, which time has proven to be modern classics. Objects designed by Kukkapuro are on display in permanent exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The cornerstone of Kukkapuro’s production is structural form consisting of separate components and taking inspiration from architectural design. Serial component thinking has dominated his production starting from the Ateljee collection in early 60’s to this day.