The Design Forum Finland has named Antrei Hartikainen as the 2018 Young Designer of the Year. In his work, Antrei Hartikainen combines traditional carpentry skills and Finnish wood processing with modern design.
The young master cabinetmaker living in Fiskars makes his own small batch products and does cooperation projects with designers and companies without drawing a strict line between art and utility. Antrei Hartikainen's wooden furniture and household items have already received a lot of attention both in Finland and abroad.
Hartikainen also makes unique works combining art and design, in which a utility item is seen in a new light or a different context.
"A unique part realised with crafting techniques brings an interesting tension to an otherwise mass produced product or piece," Hartikainen explained. "These works at the boundary of art and design I make in small batches, because it is possible to sensibly carry out both the manual and the mechanical work in batches. Creating such works is especially interesting to me."
According to the prize jury, Hartikainen is an original and skillful carpenter who moves smoothly at the boundary of art and serial production. He has developed his own strong design idiom, which makes his works clear and distinctive. The jury stated that Hartikainen has excellent knowledge of materials and he utilizes the properties of wood inventively, often challenging and searching for boundaries.
Photo: Katja Hagelstam