“The ’70s had been a visually dry era in Finland—very functionalist, very minimalist—but things were shifting,” recalls Kukkapuro, wearing his signature yellow cap for a Zoom call from his home in Kauniainen, just steps away from the swooping, concrete, steel, and glass studio he constructed in 1968. “I wanted to join the postmodern wave that was cresting in Europe by adding something decorative to my own designs.”
As documented in The Blue Door, a new book by his daughter, Isa Kukkapuro-Enbom, the Experiment chair, produced by Avarte Finland until 1995, offered a zany update to his slick, ergonomic Skaala chair of 1980. The Italians loved the creative departure, though it took the Finns a little while to come around. In time, the design appeared throughout banks, hospitals, schools, and more, injecting jolts of joy into institutional spaces nationwide and beyond.
“Yrjö showed 40 years ago that a nonconformist approach can redefine beauty,” says Hem founder Petrus Palmér, calling the chair one of his “first love affairs” as a student. “It’s even more impressive that he did it in Finland, which was and perhaps still is synonymous with Aalto, light woods, and modernist restraint.”
Today the design is as fresh as ever, riding the rising tides of 1980s nostalgia. (Its reedition comes in the three original colorways or with a simple black armrest.) But Kukkapuro aims to transcend time and trends. “The aesthetics of an object affect you,” he explains simply. “I hope people will get some inspiration when they sit in this very normal chair.” From $1,899; hem.com —Hannah Martin