Harri Koskinen opened his Friends of Industry office in 2000, won the Golden Compass in 2004 and has, this year, become the director of the design department of Iittala, working on very different fronts – this year, for instance, he designed a table-lamp collection for Marimekko but also a road-maintenance vehicle for Arctic Machine. For him, this brought yet another design challenge. "This time, the challenge was to create a compact lounge unit that was also extremely comfortable. We made several prototypes in the office to test it out. The first mould was almost perfect; we only had to slightly change the back, increasing the radius by 5 mm." Keeping the cost down was another challenge.
"We tried to restrict the number of components and the mould material", adds Koskinen. "A designer should always bear the end price in mind. I believe it is important to achieve a good balance without sacrificing quality." The best thing about working with Artek? "The wonderful people in the company. The brand is really sharp and well maintained. For someone like me, who grew up with the legend of Alvar Aalto, it is a privilege to work with Artek."
