Lightness_Cover_03

1 / 8

Ilkka Suppanen, Gustaf Kjellin

Lightness

Ilkka Suppanen Design

"Lightness: Ilkka Suppanen Design" offers an in-depth look at one of the Nordic world’s most influential designers. Known for his elegant, forward-thinking aesthetic and experimental approach to materials, Suppanen brings philosophical nuance and formal elegance to his work and collaborations, spanning product, furniture and conceptual design.

Co-edited by Suppanen and design curator and writer Gustaf Kjellin, this book asks: What does it mean to design with lightness, to create in ways that resist weight, not only in materials, but also in ideology and practice? Organized around thematic chapters, such as gestures, material, resilience and structures, the book pairs Suppanen’s work and reflections with essays by designers, philosophers and writers, offering a poetic lens on design’s potential to uplift and transform.

"Lightness: Ilkka Suppanen Design" offers an in-depth look at one of the Nordic world’s most influential designers. Known for his elegant, forward-thinking aesthetic and experimental approach to materials, Suppanen brings philosophical nuance and formal elegance to his work and collaborations, spanning product, furniture and conceptual design.

Co-edited by Suppanen and design curator and writer Gustaf Kjellin, this book asks: What does it mean to design with lightness, to create in ways that resist weight, not only in materials, but also in ideology and practice? Organized around thematic chapters, such as gestures, material, resilience and structures, the book pairs Suppanen’s work and reflections with essays by designers, philosophers and writers, offering a poetic lens on design’s potential to uplift and transform.

Author(s): Ilkka Suppanen, Gustaf Kjellin

With contributions by Max Borka, Stefana Broadbent, Dai Fujiwara, Sara Heinämaa, Leon Hidalgo, Jamer Hunt, Toshiko Mori, Maria Cecilia Loschiavo dos Santos

Design: Kenya Hara+Megumi Kajiwara

19 x 24,5, 7,5 x 9,5

144 pages, 71 illustrations

2025, 978-3-03778-779-3, English

$ 60.00

Preorder

Ilkka Suppanen

Ilkka Suppanen

ILKKA SUPPANEN (*1968) is one of the world’s best known contemporary Finnish designers. Suppanen studied architecture at the Technical University of Helsinki, Interior and Furniture Design at the University of Art and Design Helsinki, with one year at Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. In 1995 he founded Studio Suppanen in Helsinki. Throughout his career, his work has expanded across various sectors, including architecture, product- and furniture design, from coin design to radical concepts for the automobile industry, as well as projects for the casteless in India and the homeless in São Paulo. Suppanen’s works have received numerous international design awards, been exhibited worldwide at institutions such as the Venice Architecture Biennale, MoMA in New York, and are in the permanent collections of museums such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris. For his contribution to the Scandinavian design scene, Suppanen has been awarded two of the largest Nordic design awards: the Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Prize (2015) and the Kaj Franck Design Prize (2020).

Gustaf Kjellin

Gustaf Kjellin

Gustaf Kjellin is a curator and writer. In 2023 Kjellin founded Gus Gallery in Stockholm. He was the curator of the exhibition Snowcrash: 1997–2023 at the Nationalmuseum, Sweden (2021). Recent books he has written and edited include “Claesson Koivisto Rune–In Transit” (2024), “Kåge/Hamada” (2022), “Architect Erik Lundberg–Light and Form” (2021) and “Design & Peace” (2019).