Product design Pentti Leskinen

Pentti Leskinen (1929-2005) worked as a silversmith and visual artist before becoming an industrial designer. When he started studying industrial design, Leskinen was quite an accomplished artist, but felt that “products needed to be held in the hands of the whole nation”. After graduating as an industrial designer, Leskinen kept quiet about his time as a visual artist, as he did not want to be known as a “former artist”. Instead, Leskinen was proud of his silversmith skills and felt that they also benefited his work as an industrial designer. Using his handicraft skills, he was able to manufacture all the objects and models he drew himself.

Pentti Leskinen graduated as an industrial designer in 1966 from the School of Art and Design. In the years after graduation, he worked in interior design and engineering agencies in industrial design and product development. In 1973, Leskinen established his own industrial design agency specializing in product development and model building. During his career, Leskinen participated in a wide variety of industrial design projects, the most significant of which was his collaboration with Exel’s successful ski rod family development team, which began in 1973.

Product design Pentti Leskinen’s archive contains a wide range of material from both Leskinen’s career as an industrial designer and artist. Here you can see for a catalogue of the archive, digitised documents, photographs, drawings, and photographs of objects.

Read more about Pentti Leskinen’s career in the Design Archives’ Industrial Designers online exhibition.