Kaj Franck Design Prize 2019: Aivan
The team of six partners at the design agency Aivan has been selected as the recipient of the Kaj Franck Design Prize 2019, granted by Design Forum Finland: Jarkko Jämsén, Minka Koukkunen, Aleksi Kuokka, Antti Mäkelä, Aki Suvanto, and Saku Sysiö. The Kaj Franck Design Prize is one of the most significant design prizes in Finland, and it will be granted for the 28th time this year.
Aivan is a multidisciplinary design agency founded in 2007. In 2010, it shared the Young Designer of the Year award granted by Design Forum Finland with the design community Imu. Aivan’s development from a promising young actor to a company with even international renown is exceptionally strong. Three of Aivan’s four founding members, Jämsén, Mäkelä, and Sysiö, still participate in the operations.
Aivan’s essential areas of business include brand and space design, product design, and strategic design. These often include graphic design, service design, and the development of identities and concepts, and Aivan has expertise in all of these. Customers include Finnish as well as foreign companies small and large.
Aivan’s expertise is related to boat design: its subsidiary Navia Design serves some of the world’s leading boat manufacturers. Navia has offices in Helsinki and Monaco, and its portfolio also includes the executive boat Kultaranta VIII of the President of the Republic of Finland.
The Kaj Franck Design Prize jury was impressed with the team’s comprehensive touch on design. The agency has succeeded in convincing the highest management of companies that change is necessary, and in building several comprehensive brands which have achieved international success. The quality of the design has been seen as uniform and high, and its form as topical, the jury’s reasoning continues. Aivan has formed a design DNA of its own, and the internal design management of the agency is well managed and logical. Marketing has not been very visible, and it seems that work done well has created new opportunities. The agency’s good reputation has carried it onwards and towards growth.
As design takes over new fields and areas, it is wonderful to see that well-implemented comprehensive design, including industrial design which had already been pronounced half-dead, is alive and kicking, the jury states.
The members of the Kaj Franck Design Prize jury of 2019 were CEO Petteri Kolinen / Design Forum Finland, Advocate Pentti Kivinen / Finnish Fair Fondation, CEO Ia Adlercreutz / Co-founders, Vice President, Professor Anna Valtonen / Aalto University, and designer Heikki Orvola.
The Kaj Franck Design Prize exhibition opens to the public on Friday 8 November at Design Museum Gallery.
Kaj Franck Design Prize 2019: Aivan / Team
8 November 2019–12 January 2020
Design Museum Gallery, Korkeavuorenkatu 23, Helsinki
Photo: Paavo Lehtonen
More information:
Design Forum Finland: Communications Specialist Anne Veinola
anne.veinola@designforum.fi, +358 40 548 6407
Design Museum: Communications Manager Päivi Balomenos
paivi.balomenos@designmuseum.fi, +358 40 753 6725
Press images: anne.veinola@designforum.fi
#kajfranckdesignprize
Design Forum Finland
Design Forum Finland promotes the use of design in Finnish companies, especially as a tool for leadership on the strategic level, thus enhancing the international competitiveness of companies. Design Forum Finland is a non-profit organization, and through its extensive network of design professionals, it will find the best design partners for companies.
Finnish Fair Foundation
The Finnish Fair Foundation promotes Finnish business life, different industries and expertise by granting scholarships and prizes each year. The most well-known prizes are the Kaj Franck Design Prize, the Habitare Design Competition Award, the Out of Love for Books Award, and The Finnish Excellence Award.
