Yrjö Kukkapuro was only five years into running his own studio when he designed his Karuselli chair, in 1964. Inspired by the imprint left when he fell into a pile of snow, the chair is one of the Finnish maker’s most celebrated creations today, more than 60 years later. Kukkapuro, who died at age 91 earlier this month, made his career designing pieces that were similarly sculptural and ergonomic.
Although most Americans know him best for his loungers, like the wiggly-armed, postmodernist Experiment chair, other designs of his populated public spaces across Finland for decades. At a bank, a library, a museum or an airport, Kukkapuro’s chairs offered dependably comfortable places to sit. They’re also in the permanent collections of the Museum of Furniture Studies, in Sweden, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London.
Kukkapuro’s career was one of continual experimentation and boundless curiosity. The result was a number of distinctive designs, including the Cloud dining chair, the Ateljee modular sofa and the Sirkus office chair, among others. “Every decade, he was changing his style or trying new materials,” his daughter, Isa Kukkapuro-Enbom, told the New York Times.
