Students had to design and produce a prototype chair using thin steel tubing and steel wire. They approached the task with open minds and subsequently created a collection of metal chairs that are diverse in structure and design.

The students’ end results are very close to the real world, though the purpose of the exercise was not just to produce attractive and functioning products. “A successful workshop and good technical equipment and facilities make it possible to develop and experiment with knowledge about materials, but at the same time students also develop their own design philosophies. The end result is design that stands out and attracts international interest,” says furniture design professor Jouko Järvisalo.

An international group of sixteen students took the furniture design course. In addition to Finnish students, other students on the course came from Norway, Turkey, Brazil, Australia, the United States, Russia, Taiwan and Japan. The dazzling chrome plating on the chairs was done as a business cooperation project by Arvo Piiroinen Oy in Salo.