Wikström Pekka

Pekka Wikström (1938-2011) was a pioneer of industrial design. Wikström graduated from the School of Art and Design as a metal artist in 1964. Wikström started his designer career when he was still a student. In his first job at Olli Kuusi’s architectural practice, his main work was to design fixed furniture for residential buildings and the silver altarpieces for Korso Church.

Wikström worked for Slev Ab, a manufacturer of domestic appliances, on two separate occasions in the 1960s. Slev first hired Wikström, who was in the process of graduating, as a designer at the domestic appliance factory in 1963. At Slev, Wikström designed cookers, heaters, and electric heaters, for example, and also did sales and marketing work. The most daring and most Finnish of the products designed by Slev was the round, red stove in 1968. The stove was in production until 1972 and was sold to e.g. Europe, the United States and Canada.

When Finland started to develop hospital electronics in the mid-1970s, Wikström became one of the pioneers of device design in the field. In 1970, he joined the product development group of Kone ‘s instrument factory for hospital equipment. Wikström’s handprint is visible in the design of patient monitors and clinical chemistry analysers. In 1970s – 1992, Pekka Wikström had his own design studio.

During his varied design career, Wikström has designed such products as electric shepherds, radiation monitors, ergonomic workstations, corporate and product graphics, and sound systems. The archive contains material from the 1960s – 2011. Here you can see for a catalogue of Pekka Wikström’s archive, digitised drawings, and photographs.

Read more about Pekka Wikström’s career in the Design Archives’ Industrial Designers online exhibition.