Finnish designer Ilkka Suppenen brings lightness into the everyday through his elegant objects and unique philosophy

What does it mean to design with lightness?

To build, think, and create in ways that resist weight, not only in materials, but also in ideology and practice?

Lightness is both the central theme and guiding principle in the work of Finnish designer Ilkka Suppanen, whose career spans furniture, product design, architecture and conceptual work. Renowned for his refined, forward-looking aesthetic and experimental approach to materials, Suppanen brings philosophical nuance and formal elegance to his designs and collaborations with international brands.

Lightness: Ilkka Suppanen Design, co-edited by Suppanen and design curator and writer Gustaf Kjellin, is both a monograph and a meditation on lightness as a design principle and metaphor. Organized around thematic chapters, such as gestures, material, resilience and structures, the book pairs Suppanen’s work and insights, with short essays by designers, philosophers and writers responding to the underlying theme. The result is not only a portrait of one of Finland’s most celebrated contemporary designers, but also a poetic lens on design’s potential to uplift and transform.

ilkka suppanen photo Tom Vack
Photo: Tom Vack

About the authors:

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 (1979) is a curator and writer based in Stockholm. He was the curator of the exhibition Snowcrash: 1997–2003 at the Nationalmuseum, Sweden (2021) and recipient of the Cathrine von Hauswolff Award for enriching Swedish design culture in 2021. Recent books he has written and edited include Claesson Koivisto Rune–In Transit (Rizzoli New York, 2024), Design & Peace (Alvar Aalto Foundation, 2019) and Helt Vildt!–The Second Golden Age of Danish Design (Summit, 2018).

About the publisher:

Lars Müller Publishers is an independent publisher based in Zurich specializing in architecture, design, contemporary art, photography and society. Founded in 1983 by the Norwegian designer Lars Müller, the publishing house is globally renowned for beautifully designed books presenting progressive research in architecture and design. Its publishing program serves as a “school of seeing,” inviting fresh perspectives on the world we inhabit. As well as fostering new voices and ideas, Lars Müller Publishers has championed 20th century design legacies, in part through its facsimile program, XX: The Century of Print. In 2025, the publishing house joined the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity headquartered in San Francisco.

LIGHTNESS:
ILLKA SUPPANEN DESIGN

Authors: Ilkka Suppanen and Gustaf Kjellin

With contribuntions 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 × 24,5 cm, 7 ½ × 9 ½ in
144 pages, 72 illustrations
Hardcover
978-3-03778-779-3, English

More design by Ilkka Suppanen:

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