STUDIO YK
Design
Among the greats of Finnish design, Yrjö Kukkapuro defies categorisation. He lives as he designs, with a pragmatism that never compromises on experimentation and imagination, and he is a cornerstone of contemporary Finnish design and visual culture.
Much of a career that spans some 70 years, has originated from Studio Kukkapuro, the embodiment of his ideals, with its innovative undulating concrete ceiling, seemingly hovering above walls of windows, and so mathematically perfect it needed no interior columns to support the weight of its seemingly featherlight ceiling. Here on the outskirts of Helsinki, Kukkapuro lived and worked alongside Irmeli, his artist wife, and built his prototypes. Famed for his chairs – he thinks he has designed nearly 100 – Yrjö Kukkapuro is a true polymath who designed everything from furniture and lighting to exhibitions and fair booths. His status as a collectible designer means his work claims high prices at auction and several of his designs are being put into production again. The exhibition at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA), Yrjö Kukkapuro – Magic Room, honours his prolific career.
Read more in Ark Journal VOLUME IX.
WORDS ALISA LARSEN
PHOTOGRAPHY JONAS BJERRE-POULSEN
STYLING SIGRID GRY LAURSEN
CASE STUDY
— DISSONANT BEAUTY
As in music, interior design calls on many elements – rhythm, contrast, repetition – to create that most subjective of visions: beauty.
CINCINATTI MODERN
High on a hillside in Cincinnati, sits a two-storey modernist wonder by two unsung heroes of American architecture, built for an art collector in the 1980s and that has been given a sensitive makeover to accommodate the collection of its second owner.
CREATIVE TRANSITIONS
Based on the loops and twists of the Möbius strip, an icon of mid-century Mexican design has become an integral part of the creative process for its custodian, designer and ceramicist Perla Valtierra.
STUDIO YK
Design
Among the greats of Finnish design, Yrjö Kukkapuro defies categorisation. He lives as he designs, with a pragmatism that never compromises on experimentation and imagination, and he is a cornerstone of contemporary Finnish design and visual culture.
Much of a career that spans some 70 years, has originated from Studio Kukkapuro, the embodiment of his ideals, with its innovative undulating concrete ceiling, seemingly hovering above walls of windows, and so mathematically perfect it needed no interior columns to support the weight of its seemingly featherlight ceiling. Here on the outskirts of Helsinki, Kukkapuro lived and worked alongside Irmeli, his artist wife, and built his prototypes. Famed for his chairs – he thinks he has designed nearly 100 – Yrjö Kukkapuro is a true polymath who designed everything from furniture and lighting to exhibitions and fair booths. His status as a collectible designer means his work claims high prices at auction and several of his designs are being put into production again. The exhibition at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA), Yrjö Kukkapuro – Magic Room, honours his prolific career.
Read more in Ark Journal VOLUME IX.
WORDS ALISA LARSEN
PHOTOGRAPHY JONAS BJERRE-POULSEN
STYLING SIGRID GRY LAURSEN