Innolux 30
– the whole year is full of reasons to be cheerful! With the certainty of the
round numbers that represent the passing decades, Innolux kicked off the
festivities by raising a toast in the bright sunshine, enjoying the good
company and relaxed atmosphere.
The Museum
of Technology, which served as a venue for celebrations on The Day of Light, 3
February 2023, is located on the edge of the Vanhankaupunginkoski rapids in the
birthplace of Helsinki, Kuninkaankartano island, where Gustav Vasa founded the
city in 1550. The former waterworks, a bright brick building with its own
significant industrial history, provided a wonderful, easily customizable
setting for the event.
The Innolux
30 anniversary launches include many exciting new Finnish luminaire models. A
high-level competition was held in collaboration with Ornamo, and drew a record
number of more than 150 entries. The winners were announced in the presence of
honorary jury members Harri Koskinen and Irina Viippola.
1st
place: Vesa Nilsson – Alba
The Alba
lamp has something of the appearance of the floppy hat of the Snufkin character
from the Moomins, a touch of red coneflower in bloom, and the timeless style of
Innolux. But nothing superfluous. The shape was created from a single line,
which, after some experimentation and paring down of options, was chosen as the
basis for the Alba series of luminaires.
Vesa
Nilsson is a designer, Master of Arts and silversmith with over 30 years of
experience in product and jewelry design. For Nilsson, the most important
qualities are the skills needed to work with his hands and the desire to learn
new things.
2nd
place: Janita Helenius – Kielo
This
luminaire gets its distinctive look from the shape of the slits in the dome,
inspired by nature, and the downward-curving leg that is especially reminiscent
of the lily of the valley.
Janita
Helenius is a second-year industrial design student from Metropolia University
of Applied Sciences, whose competition entry originated from a project course
in product design. Janita finds the formation of shadow and light especially
intriguing.
3rd
place: Olga Autio – Lempi
It is a
pleasure to always have your favorite bright light device on display, so that
the good feeling it offers becomes a natural, integral part of everyday life.
Blending into a wide variety of interiors, the visually pleasing appearance
plays with the contrast of a soft and straightforward shape.
Olga Autio is a soon-to-graduate industrial design student from Helsinki, who is inspired by the combination of old and new, traditional manufacturing methods and various natural materials.
Honorable
mention: Jokinen Konu – Rauha
The most
distinctive feature of the Rauha luminaire is the scalable, acoustic surface
area that also serves as a surface for indirect lighting. The luminaire creates
a wonderful atmosphere, combining a spotlight with the softer light distributed
by the perforation of the metal tube.
Jukka
Jokinen and Heikki Konu are internationally awarded industrial designers whose
work focuses on product, spatial and furniture design. They are characterized
by wide-ranging mastery of glass, wood and other materials.
Honorable
mention: Sami Kiviharju – Hyrrä (spinning top)
The light
source is boldly part of the luminaire’s design language, so that the light
that remains inside it is reflected from the inner surface of the dome and
scatters through the diffusing acrylic sheet to form a beautiful shimmering
ring around the lamp.
Sami
Kiviharju is an industrial designer for whom the most crucial things in design
are inspiration, practicality, and the minimalism that embodies the
functionality of the design item.
Innolux’s
range is divided into three parts: Heritage, Core, and Health. The Heritage
range consists of lighting classics by Finnish designers; the Core range
consists of inspired contemporary design; and the focus of the Health range is
on bright light lamps and red light therapy lamps to promote health. The
finished appearance of the new models selected for production from among the competition
entries will be on display at the Innolux stand at the Habitare furniture,
design and decoration fair in September 2023.
“In
addition to the form, the manufacturability and the possibility to make the
product in Finland took center stage,” says Innolux CEO Jukka Jokiniemi. “The
challenge turned out to be that the design has not already been launched
somewhere else before. A lot of good designs were among those eliminated for
this reason.”
“The
different works highlighted slightly different selection criteria. We did, of
course, reflect on the brief and how well each proposal met it,” says Innolux
Product Manager Joel Klemetti. “The winner, Alba, was of a very high aesthetic
and design standard and was more or less ready for production. Kielo, for example,
can be scaled up nicely into a product family and different variations.”