Simo Heikkilä (born May 2, 1943) is a Finnish

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

and interior architect. He is known as a designer, teacher and collaborator with a concern for dying craft skills. Heikkilä established his own studio in 1971. He began his career designing shops and exhibitions for

Marimekko Marimekko Corporation () is a Finland, Finnish textiles, clothing, and home furnishings company founded by Viljo and Armi Ratia in Helsinki in 1951. Marimekko made important contributions to fashion in the 1960s. It is particularly noted for it ...

and then moved into designing furniture. Heikkilä has acted as the Director of Aalto University's Wood Studio and is an honorary fellow of

Aalto University Aalto University (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Espoo, Finland. It was established in 2010 as a merger of three major Finnish universities: the Helsinki University of Technology, the Helsinki School of Economic ...

. Born in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Heikkilä has received numerous design awards including the Pro Finlandia medal in 2003 and the Kaj Franck Design Prize in 2011. The prize jury for the Kaj Franck Design Prize noted that "with his humorous touch, Heikkilä has guided young people towards an ecological and practical use of material." In 2009 Heikkilä invited a group of 21 international designer, including Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Konstantin Grcic and Jasper Morrison, to reinterpret the Sami knife or leuku. Each designer was sent an original knife made by a Sami craftsman and given the simple brief to make it better. At the time Simo Heikkilä said of the project, "The leuku is a beautiful and functional object, pure in shape, well balanced and simply composed. Locally developed objects like this are vanishing all over the world." The results of the collaboration were exhibited in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and the Saint-Étienne Design Biennial in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and published as a book.Rawsthorn, Alice
"Blade Runners"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', New York, 6 September 2010. Retrieved on 17 May 2014.

References

External links

Periferia Design Studio Simo Heikkilä Oy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heikkila, Simo 1943 births Living people Artists from Helsinki Finnish artists Finnish designers