Mika Tolvanen

Mika Tolvanen is a renowned Finnish designer who started his own practice after graduating from Royal College of Art in 2001. Tolvanen designs products for residential and contract use from his studio and workshop on the island of Lauttasaari outside of Helsinki, Finland. Mika believes that the objective is not only to design products but rather to look at the occasions we need to design for. He feels that what really defines objects is how we use them, not what they appear to be. Design should be respectful and subordinate to use. This is exemplified by Scandinavian approach where design is always very personal. Finnish introspection permeates everything, especially the way they conceive objects. Scandinavian design is immutable, it has existed as an unbroken thread stitching the region's long history together. Only the means of realising it has changed and this is enough to make the latest expressions of Scandinavia's design continuum a reality.