Antti Kotilainen | ScandinavianDesign.com

Antti Kotilainen is a Finnish furniture designer, born in 1966, and one of Finland’s most successful designers in the field. His work is known for organic forms and functionality suited to how people use spaces today. He has worked with Finnish manufacturer Martela for many years, and is also the designer of the Aava chair for Italian Arper.

Background

Kotilainen has collaborated with furniture manufacturers since 1993, among them Martela and Piiroinen in Finland, Knoll in the United States and Arper in Italy. In 1997 he founded Design Office Antti Kotilainen in Helsinki. The studio specialises in furniture but also works with product design and complete visual concepts, from graphics to spatial design. His furniture has been shown at exhibitions in Finland and abroad, and is used in companies, universities and cultural venues across Europe as well as in the United States, Australia and Japan.

Design approach

Kotilainen describes his work as organic functionalism. He refines technical details, in manufacturing as well as in use, until they become part of the aesthetic, with the aim of designs that look both effortless and essential. Like many Scandinavian designers he has explored new ways of working with wood. He often compares furniture to music, where contrasts and moods shape how we feel, and sees his main task as creating a good feeling in the furniture and a good atmosphere in the room. His chairs, stools and sofas typically come in families that share one language and can be combined freely.

Designs for Martela

The collaboration took off with the Sola chair, which grew into a wide family of universal, conference and lobby chairs and later a Sola sofa. The Nooa series of 2015 brought straight and curved sofas and private sofa groups for activity-based offices. The Ella chair introduced walnut and new colours to Martela’s collection, the Oona stools pair solid wood legs with wooden or upholstered seats, and in 2026 he added Maia, a modular seating system balancing relaxed comfort with minimalist lines.

Designs for Arper

Kotilainen designed the Aava chair for Arper in 2013. Ten years later it returned as Aava 02, made largely from post-consumer recycled polypropylene derived from detergent bottles.

By Editorial Team, ScandinavianDesign.com