Finnish Design

The Crisp Voice of Nature

The Finnish soul lives inside the deep forest. “Thus the forest answers as it is called at”, goes a Finnish saying and the Finnish design is an answer of this calling. All of the great masters of Finnish architecture and design are getting their inspiration and sources from the deep voice of nature. They are design shamans.

When Lenin granted Finland her independence in 1917 it was not due to military separatism or counter revolution – Lenin admired the very unique culture of the Finns represented by the designers and artists. Lenin had lived in Finland and had felt the nature oriented passion of the Finnish national romanticism and how it belonged only to the Finns.

Finns are proud of their designers and have taken them to their hearts and homes. They represent the Finnish soul and all the Finns can feel the forest in behind. Every Finnish home will have at least two national symbols common: a sauna and an Alvar Aalto design vase. There is no distance between ordinary people and high design. Design belongs to everybody.

The forest changes during the year. In summer in its exploding vitality the treetops will be the roof above you and lead you to the different spaces and rooms. Some are open to the clear blue sky, some will present you a mirror like lake. In the autumn the forest suddenly turns to be full of bright colors of red, orange and yellow literally painting the landscape as if it would be on fire. When the snow falls all the world becomes a white background to beautifully graphical compositions of leafless trees, ice stickles and footprints of the animals. After the long winter when the sun finally rises again the forest will welcome you to admire the sculptures of the melting ice and the rays of sunlight finding their ways to you.

All shapes, all drama, all light, all space…if you want to see a Finnish design collection – go to forest.

Preface for Finnish Design -book, Tsui-Shan Tu, Garden City, Taiwan 2007