Kivikunta series of furniture

In 2001, I was on leave from the City of Helsinki's Department of Public Works with a 1-year artist's grant from the state. During this time, I was developing a new all-stone furniture range that had been on my mind for a long time. That's when I got the idea for the Kivikunta series of furniture and made drawings and scale models.

I offered the design to Lemminkäinen Oy, which had replaced concrete with natural stone in the manufacture of both paving products and furniture. Lemminkäinen stated that they do not have the machinery to manufacture the proposed products, but they indicated that the necessary milling equipment is available at the Peipohja Stone Quarry. I contacted the Peipohja Stone Foundry and we agreed to make prototypes of the products there. A small pilot series of bench elements and a table were produced and the City of Kotka purchased the products for installation in Kotka. The bench circle was placed in the church park and the Penkki table group was placed in the beach park, from where it was later moved to Sapokanniemi.

The production was successful, and we signed a contract with Peipohja Stone Foundry to manufacture them and transfer the design right to the manufacturer. However, due to staff changes at the Peipohja Stone Foundry, production of the series never started. The newcomers were also not informed of the contract that all rights revert to the designer if production does not start within two years of the contract being signed. As this did not happen, I terminated the contract four years after it was made.