Harri Koskinen Wins the Torsten and Wanja Söderberg’s Prize

One of the leading contemporary Finnish designers, Harri Koskinen, is the latest winner of the Torsten and Wanja Söderberg’s Prize of Sweden.

The Torsten and Wanja Söderberg’s Prize has been awarded annually since 1994 for creative novelty and prominent accomplishment in arts, crafts and design. The prize is awarded through a collaboration between the Röhsska Museum of Fashion, Design and Decorative Arts of Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden, and the Torsten and Ragnar Söderberg Foundations. This Nordic award is in the sum of 1 million Swedish krona (approximately 97,000 euro).

The jury was unanimous in their decision to award the 2009 prize to Harri Koskinen, citing as their arguments: “This year’s prize winner is an internationally renowned designer who, despite his young age, is perhaps Finland’s greatest contemporary designer.”

According to the jury, “Harri Koskinen is one of the foremost designers now occupied with the task of continuing the Nordic design tradition. His extensive, wide-ranging body of work has unique, austere design that is consistently expressed, with clear Nordic roots in its demands for good function and simplicity of form, as well as in the choice of materials. These elements combine to create lasting value. At the same time as he enjoys successful partnerships with design-intensive companies around the world, he is also participating in the renewal of his homeland’s design industry.”

Born in 1970 in Karstula in central Finland, Harri Koskinen studied at the Lahti Institute of Design and the University of Art and Design Helsinki. He has run his studio Friends of Industry in Helsinki since 1998. His large number of clients include Artek, Iittala, Genelec, Issey Miyake, Muji, Panasonic, Seiko, Swarovski, Venini and Woodnotes.

Koskinen’s work is characterized by practicality and uncompromising aesthetic qualities. He constantly seeks innovative solutions for manufacturers and consumers. He has won a number of awards before the current one, including the Compasso d’Oro industrial design award in 2004 for his Muu chair for Montina. The previous Finnish winner of Compasso d’Oro was Kaj Franck in 1957.

Koskinen’s Torsten and Wanja Söderberg’s Prize is accompanied by an exhibition at the Röhsska Museum. The exhibition shows Koskinen’s breadth as a designer, displaying furniture, textiles, glasses, clocks and lamps. The exhibition runs through February 28th, 2010.