Professor artist and interior architect Yrjö Kukkapuro (b. 1933) is one of Finland’s most internationally known and awarded furniture designers, and a key modernist in the field who typically approaches design through functionality.

During his distinguished career, which began in the mid-1950s, he has received several major titles and awards, such as the Pro Finlandia medal in 1983, the Kaj Franck Design Prize in 1995, membership in the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 2002, and the State Prize in 2017.

In addition to designing his experimental studio home completed in 1968, he has been involved in the design of dozens of public spaces. In collaboration with architects, he has created environments where light and lighting have given Kukkapuro’s furniture a fitting setting. All luminaires designed by Kukkapuro are also strongly visual in character.

As a designer, Kukkapuro is above all a functionalist whose work is based not only on ergonomics and aesthetics but also on user experience. He is known for his wide color palette, in which the primary colors of constructivist art—blue, red, yellow, black, and white—play a central role.

In his design work, the starting point is always the material, which determines the form language. Nicknamed the “screw man,” Kukkapuro is known for allowing all fastenings to remain visible in his distinctive design language. His work is characterized by a structural, modular nature and serial production, drawing influence from architectural design.

Familiar pieces such as Ateljee, Karuselli, and Remmi have over the decades become modern classics. Kukkapuro’s works are included in permanent exhibitions at institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Vitra Design Museum in Germany.

Butterfly invites light and color to play; in its gentle light there is space for dreaming. The interchangeable color elements are naturally cut from plexiglass, which as a translucent material offers an imaginative color palette.

Yrjö Kukkapuro’s recognizable design language is completed by the visible role of screws functioning as fasteners for the components. The black, minimalist metal frame firmly anchors the decorative luminaire in place.

Originally designed by Yrjö Kukkapuro for his experimental studio home in 1968, the lamp was born out of a real need when ceiling outlets were accidentally left out. It took its final commercial form during the postmodern wave of the 1980s, when colors and shapes flowed into design. Butterfly is being produced for the first time by Innolux.