TRANSFIGURE: ILKKA SUPPANEN

The Finnish architect and designer, llkka Suppanen, is a leading figure of the Finnish design scene, and internationally renowned for his iconic design objects. Suppanen studied architecture at the Technical University of Helsinki and Interior and Furniture Design at the University of Art and Design Helsinki. In 1995, he founded Studio Suppanen in Helsinki.

Passionate about design, Ilkka Suppanen is committed to creating visually powerful pieces that blend aesthetic values from Scandinavian design and craftsmanship. For him, design is based on several factors: human experience, social behaviors, global, economic and political issues, physical and mental interaction, form, vision, and a rigorous understanding and desire for contemporary culture.

Suppanen has won several international awards including the Kaj Franck Prize; the Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Prize, Good Design Award, Chicago; the Bruno Mathsson Prize, The Finnish Cultural Foundation Award and the Ilmari Tapiolassa Prize. His works have been showcased in prestigious international exhibitions, such as the Venice Architecture Biennale and in the MoMA, New York.

The works of Ikka Suppanen are part of important museum collections such as the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; Museum of Andewante Kunst, Cologne; Vandelorum Museum of Art & Design, Sweden; Röhsska Museum Göteborg and the Designmuseo, Helsinki. Suppanen has been a professor at the University of Art and Design Helsinki since 1996, and have been giving lectures at Harvard University, Berlin University of Art and Tongin University, China. Suppanen was also the Chairman of the board of the International Alvar Aalto Design Seminar in 2007.