Hannu Kähönen Wins Kaj Franck Design Prize

Finnish industrial designer, artist and professor Hannu Kähönen has become the 18th winner of the prestigious Kaj Franck Design Prize.  The jury cited his versatility in design among Kähönen’s many merits that earned him the prize. Kähönen’s impressive portfolio ranges from buses and trams to mobile phones and health care instruments. According to the jury, “Hannu Kähönen’s oeuvre reflects in a beautiful manner the industrial aesthetic, and its core ideas are knowledge of materials, the usability of products, their accessibility and recyclability.” Over his career of more than thirty years as an entrepreneur in design, Kähönen has become widely familiar with the needs of business making use of design. Kähönen founded his agency Creadesign [1] in 1981. The agency is known for thorough background work, comprehensive skills and good command of complex design assignments. Among the many long-standing clients of Creadesign is the City of Helsinki. When the City began the process of procuring a new low-floor tram from a German manufacturer, Kähönen was included in the design team. He describes the project as perhaps the most demanding one in which he has ever been involved. Creadesign’s most recent project for the City of Helsinki comprises outdoor trash bins. Kähönen’s career includes teaching at academic levels and advising on national design policy. His résumé includes positions of trust, exhibitions, awards and honorary titles. In recent years, Kähönen has concentrated on material-based product development and environmental issues, considering ecological values in his design. The Kaj Franck Design Prize prize [2], established in 1992, is named after one of the leading figures of Finnish design and maintains the heritage of Franck (1911-1989), who was known as the “conscience of Finnish design”. Franck taught several generations of professional designers in Finland at the College of Applied Arts, the predecessor of the University of Art and Design Helsinki. Kähönen (born 1948) was one of Franck’s students. The City of Helsinki Variotram low-floor tram, 1996-98, manufactured by Adtranz, Germany iCARE, intra-ocular pressure measurement device, 1994-2003, Tiolat Oy. The awarded design of the device underlines its innovativeness but does not intimidate the patient.   [1] http://www.creadesign.fi/www/index.html [2] http://www.designforum.fi/kajfranck_en