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DOI:10.2752/175630610X12877385838966

Book Review

Finnish Design: AConcise HistorybyPa krnmaaHelsinki, Finland: University of Art and

Design Helsinki, 2009, 336pp. Paperback

ISBN 978-951-558-295-9. 48.

kjtl FallanIn the Nordic countries, design history as a

distinct eld o study is experiencing a period o

expansion and revitalization. New scholars arestudying new material in new ways, and oten with an

international outlook both in terms o theoretical perspect-

ives and to an increasing degree publication strategies.

While this bodes well or the uture, little has thus ar

been available in English and published with international

distribution. Looking beyond the design pornography

oered by aestheticizing coee table books and hagiographic

exhibition catalogues, even survey books o Nordic design

aimed at an international public are ew and ar between.

In general, national survey histories are oten published

in native languages, primarily with domestic audiences in

mind. Some are translated into English most are not. Also,

national survey histories represent a notoriously dicult

category, and the broad strokes and quick pace it requires

+

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are eective deterrents in a scholarly environment dominated by

micro histories and theoretical musings. All the more pleasing, then,

that Pekka Korvenmaa has taken on the challenging exercise o

writing such a book and publishing it in English.

Finnish Design: A Concise Historypresents the history o Finnish

design rom around 1870 to the present. Rather than basing thechronological demarcation on political milestones like the 1809

separation rom Sweden or the 1917 independence rom Russia, the

starting point o the narrative is chosen because many o the major

institutions that would orm Finnish design discourse were ounded

in the 1870s. While this choice is not sel-evident and unproblematic,

it has the merit o acilitating a history o design that stands on its

own rather than becoming a refection o the nations political history.

Bringing the account all the way to the present makes sense in that

any other chosen halt point would seem arbitrary, but historicizingones own present is no easy eat. Nevertheless, contemporary

design discourse in Finland is o great interest, and there is no way

better to understand it than in light o its history. For this reason, and

others, the book oers a somewhat more comprehensive analysis o

the period stretching rom the Second World War to the present than

it does o the earlier period.

The book is structured chronologically, in eight chapters, each

discussing relatively well-dened periods. The rst concerns the late

nineteenth century and presents the ounding in the 1870s o major

institutions like the Finnish Society o Crats and Design, the Museum

o Applied Art and the Crat School, and outlines an emerging applied

art community. The second chapter deals with the period leading

up to Finlands independence and explores the entanglement o

nationalism and internationalism in design culture. Chapter 3, on

the inter-war years, ocuses on the relation between tradition and

modernity. Chapter 4 explores the role o design in the makeshit

conditions o wartime and in the early post-war reconstruction

eorts. Chapter 5, tellingly entitled The Great Rise, chronicles the

remarkable international ame and commercial success o Finnishdesign in the 1950s and 1960s. Chapter 6 tells the heterogeneous

history o the 1960s and 1970s, tracing developments such as the

proessionalization and dispersion o industrial design, the changes

in consumption patterns resulting rom growing aluence, and

the increasing concern about issues such as social responsibility,

ecology and heritage. Chapter 7 outlines the apprehensive approach

to postmodernism in Finland in the 1980s as well as the crucial

developments in the telecommunications industry. The eighth and

nal chapter boldly outlines major trends in the immediate past and

present, giving due attention to actors such as the grave economic

recession o the early 1990s and how design became an integral

part in the macro-political strategies or recovery, and the growing

interest in design management and branding.

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Korvenmaa argues that the rst part o his timeline the late

nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are already well researched

and can thus be treated more concisely in the present context. While

it is true that extensive research has been done on this topic, only

a small portion o it is available to an international public, and it is

thereore essential that this material is not omitted rom or treatedtoo cursorily in the rst English language survey. Luckily, the author

exaggerates his disclaimer, and the period in question is given due

attention as ar as one can expect rom a survey history.

A national survey history naturally raises questions about nation-

alism and design. The intimate links between these concepts in

Finland is a well-rehearsed theme, especially in English language

accounts, the conventional position being that the late nineteenth

century represents an awakening o both nationalism and design

and a resulting quest or national ormal expressions in design.While there certainly is some truth to such claims, Korvenmaa does

a good job in qualiying these myths by demonstrating that the

overwhelming majority o objects . . . o the late nineteenth century

were based on adaptations o leading historical styles created in

accordance with international examples (p. 28). The Finnishness

or which Finnish design would later receive recognition abroad was

in act acilitated only by the incorporation o international currents

a trait it shared with other national design discourses.

The book is characterized by certain recurring themes and

distinguishing traits. One o the topics to which Korvenmaa returns

again and again is that o design education. One explanation or

this is the peculiar situation that Finland until recently had only one

higher education institution training designers, making this school

all the more important in orming design discourse. Founded as

The Crat School in 1871, it became the Central School o Arts and

Crats in 1886. Reormed and renamed as the Institute o Industrial

Art in 1949, given a our-year curriculum and taken over by the

state in 1965, it achieved university status in 1973 under the name

University o Art and Design Helsinki. Educational aspects are alwayssignicant and rewarding subjects o design history, but the Finnish

case outlined here becomes even more pertinent and interesting in

light o the dramatic changes currently under way in Finnish design

education, in which the University o Art and Design Helsinki has

merged with the Helsinki School o Economics and the Helsinki

University o Technology to orm the Aalto University, ocially opened

earlier this year.

Another subject that is treated relatively comprehensively is

exhibitions, both domestic and abroad. These discussions provide

insight into how Finnish design has been staged, promoted and

perceived, and all in line with the increased attention to various

orms o mediation arenas and processes in international design

history at the moment. The consumption sphere o design culture,

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however, does not gure prominently in this book. Whereas con-

ceived changes in consumer behaviour are mentioned rom time to

time, any substantial examination o design as consumer culture is

absent but then again it would be impossible to cram all aspects

o design culture into a survey history, and the priorities made are

sound enough.A commendable eature o the book, which sets it apart rom

many o its kind, is that whereas the usual suspects o amous

designers, manuacturers and products are duly presented and

make up the bulk o the book, Korvenmaa reminds us time and again

that this is only part o the picture, that the material culture that orms

design historys subject matter actually is dominated by what he calls

a mainstream o anonymous products (p. 59). That being said, this

mainstream is rarely explored beyond the level o being mentioned in

passing. A slight shit o balance, here, between the iconic and theanonymous would have made or a more surprising and engaging

account. Nevertheless, it is invigorating to see a survey history o

Finnish design that does not limit itsel to beautiul objects or the

home, but also includes tractors, toilets, trucks, telephones and

televisions, and treats industrial design in the broader sense properly.

A similarly rereshing trait is that the modernist ethos, which

has permeated design historiography especially in more popular

accounts like survey histories is, although not eradicated, then

certainly moderated and complemented. Again, the heroic gures

and products o modernism dominate, but the omnipresence o

non-modernist design in our material culture is at least mentioned

and illustrated by a ew examples. Korvenmaa writes: The slow

stream o tradition still continued alongside modernism and that

Thereore, the image o the applied arts o the 1930s is richer than

some have wanted to see it in retrospect (p. 129). In the same

vein he remarks how the 1940s were marked by romanticizing

trends emphasizing comort and enhancements o everyday lie (p.

157). Recognizing such phenomena is essential or the academic

credibility o design history, and the author should be commendedor his eorts, although he could at times have done more to qualiy

and question the image that the international public had o Finland

as an Eldorado o modern architecture and design (p. 194).

Despite the obvious limitations o the survey ormat, the book is

well contextualized. The history o Finnish design is presented as

rmly embedded in broader political, economical, technological,

social and cultural processes. This helps distance this book rom the

introversion and superciality that may easily gain the upper hand in

publications o this kind. Survey histories have their limitations, but

Pekka Korvenmaa has succeeded in the dicult task o presenting

the rich history o Finnish design both briefy and boldly.

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Bgraphy

Dr Kjetil Fallan is Associate Proessor o Design History in the

Department o Philosophy, Classics, History o Art and Ideas at the

University o Oslo. He is the author oDesign History: Understanding

Theory and Method (Berg, 2010) as well as numerous articles

published in journals including theJournal of Design History, DesignIssues, Enterprise and Societyand History and Technology. His

edited volume Scandinavian Design: Alternative Histories is orth-

coming with Berg (2012). Fallan also serves on the Editorial Board o

theJournal of Design History.