Guest Creative

Stockholm Furniture Fair is excited to announce its collaboration with acclaimed Finnish artist and designer Kustaa Saksi, who has created a series of illustrations for the 2025 fair.

In recent years, Saksi has established himself as a leader at the intersection of art and design.
He has attracted international attention with his innovative work, combining traditional jacquard weaving techniques with materials such as wool, rubber and metal. Saksi has collaborated with Scandinavian furniture brands such as Nikari and Swedese, including designing a fabric for Swedese’s iconic Lamino armchair for the 2017 fair. He has also collaborated with global fashion brands such as Hermès, Nike, Issey Miyake and Marimekko, and his work has been exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Design Museum Helsinki.

In the works for Stockholm Furniture Fair, Saksi returns to his roots as a graphic designer.
The images are inspired by the creative process of a designer with its many phases and sources of inspiration.

“Every designer has a shelf full of methods and ideas, and products are born from these elements. Some come from the imagination, some are inspired by different sources, and some are the result of experimentation. Version after version is created. Hopefully, these images will entice the viewer to explore the process leading up to the final product on a deeper level, showing the everyday work of a designer,” says Saksi.

Saksi has also strived to visualize what he sees as the essence of Nordic design: nature. In his own work, ideas from nature always play a central role.

“Nature is in the DNA of Nordic designers. It may be a cliché, but we cannot escape nature even if we want to. In these images, I have included recurring patterns from nature; shapes that reveal the order of nature but also refer to the repetitive processes used in industrial design,” Saksi explains.

Under the theme Connecting the Dots, Stockholm Furniture Fair 2025 will explore the cross-cultural and multidisciplinary influences that shape contemporary design. The fair will highlight different creative fields beyond architecture, furniture and lighting design, including fashion and crafts.

“We are delighted to welcome Kustaa Saksi as our very first Guest Creative. With his work at the intersection of art, design and fashion, he brings a new perspective to the fair and fits perfectly with this year’s theme,” says Daniel Heckscher, Project Manager for Stockholm Furniture Fair and Stockholm Design Week.

The images created by Saksi will be brought to life through animation by Jurriaan Hos, Motion Design Artist, adding a dynamic element to the 2025 visual expression.

In parallel with the Stockholm Furniture Fair, Saksi will also have an extensive exhibition at the Vandalorum museum, which will run from November 16, 2024 to May 11, 2025.

TEXT Elna Nykänen Andersson
PHOTO Jussi Puikkonen