At SaloneSatellite 2026, the Estonian Academy of Arts presents ten years of student chairs from Ilkka Suppanen’s Seating Furniture Studio

Made from locally sourced birch, the works explore material efficiency and low-impact production. The project asks whether an entire exhibition can have a smaller footprint than a single mass-produced plastic chair.

Pavilions 5 and 7 of Fiera Milano Rho booth 13.12
21-26 of April 2026

Seating Furniture Studio 2016-2026
Faculty of Architecture
Estonian Academy of Arts

Each year students of architecture and interior architecture learn to do less with more. They build a chair with limited wood material, one that carries their bodies and intentions. Lightness emerges through restraint, clarity, and responsibility. This exhibition brings together ten years of chairs, revealing lightness as a balance between gravity, material, and imagination.

The authors of the chairs are
Madli Bulgarin, Sander Haugas, Kadri Kallaste, Madis Keerd, Karolin Kull, Alis Mäesalu, Ra Puhkan, Kristofer Soop, Karl Robin Timm and Linda Marie Zimmer

The students were assisted by
Wood Workshop masters Oliver Kanniste and Avo Tragel

The course’s co-tutors are
Yrjö Wiherheimo and Martin Relander

The course is supervised by
Ilkka Suppanen, a designer from Finland working with lightness. The founder of Studio Suppanen is known for his work in product, industrial, and furniture design. The studio’s work has been exhibited at MoMA and the Venice Architecture Biennale, and is held in the permanent collections of institutions like the Centre Pompidou. Suppanen has supervised the Seating Furniture Studio at EKA for ten years.

The Estonian Academy of Arts is
the only public university in Estonia providing higher education in fine arts,
design, architecture, media, visual studies, art history, and conservation. Operating continuously since 1914, the university leverages a century of knowledge and craftsmanship to address the questions of tomorrow. The exhibition is brought to you by EKA’s Faculty of Architecture.

EKA Suppanen potrait body photo Tom Vack
Photo: Tom Vack

The Power of Restraint

“We are presenting a mindset of restraint,” says Ilkka Suppanen, the designer who led the studio and curates the exhibition. “EKA students explore how much can be achieved with how little. This isn’t about imposing limits as a dramatic gesture, but about understanding the elegance of structural clarity. It is a form of responsibility toward our living environment.”

Topp image photo: Toomas Tikenberg