A love affair with wood: Nikari and the Finnish way of making

In Finland, the forest is more than a landscape, it’s a place of memory and mystery, and guardian spirits watching over the trees. In Finnish folklore, we call this guardian spirit, the Haltija. Some Haltija watch over a place – like the forest or the water, and some, an object. While Haltija might not beimmediately obvious to the naked eye, they remain close at hand, a benevolent presence within nature.

Having spent many years living in Finland, exploring the otherworldly beauty of its forests and lakes, I’ve developed a lifelong appreciation for Finnish culture and design – and most especially the Finnish brand Nikari, available in Australia exclusively through KFive.

For this Saturday Indesign (Saturday 12 September in Sydney), KFive is bringing the Finnish forest toour Surry Hills store – giving you a small and life-altering taste of Finnish culture and its distinctive blend of nature, craftsmanship and design. Paying homage to that ever-present guardian spirit, we are naming this showroom experience HALTIJA, drawing together the timber craftsmanship, cultural keynotes, and epicurean delights for which Finland is so famous. At the centre of the experience is a curated selection of Nikari pieces and we are joined, too, by Nikari CEO, Johanna Vuorio. Johanna is recognised for her design entrepreneurship and, through her leadership of Nikari, she has become a custodian of its strong heritage of timber craftsmanship.

With its headquarters located in the 377-year-old village of Fiskars, Nikari is a product of its origins in every sense. There the Fiskars river rapids feed the hydroelectricity for Nikari’s studio workshop, which runs on 100 per cent renewable energy. “The forests, the changing seasons, river and surrounding landscape are part of our everyday lives,” says Johanna. “They remind us where our material comes from and reinforce a sense of responsibility towards it.”

Founded in 1967 by master cabinetmaker Kari Virtanen, Johanna took over the running of Nikari in 2009. Still to this day the company is guided by Kari’s deep respect for timber as a living, renewable material. Nikari doesn’t view wood as a resource, so much as a partner in the design process. As a medium for design, timber is remarkable for its practical virtues but also its deeply emotional qualities. “Our role is not to overpower the material but to understand it and allow its natural qualities to shine,” says Johanna. Her words encapsulate everything Nikari stands for – a brand grounded in the land, with an elemental and reciprocal relationship that underpins the honesty and rigour of its work.

When Nikari works with a design collaborator, they seek curiosity, humility and willingness to engage deeply with the wood. There are many realities to working with solid wood, and Nikari connects their collaborators in close dialogue with craftspeople and production teams, to test and refine ideas and find that essential Nikari balance of function, beauty and technical detail. Not surprisingly, every Nikari piece carries its own character, grain and story.

Cultural continuity is also important to Nikari, who see themselves as part of a much longer story of making. Every piece they produce carries forward knowledge, skills and values developed over generations. “Our role is not only to create furniture for today, but also to help preserve and evolve these traditions for the future,” says Johanna.

At Saturday Indesign this year, visitors can experience first-hand the values and principles that underpin the rigour and detailed beauty of Nikari’s heirloom-quality pieces. Johanna and her team love to travel and connect with architects, designers, craftspeople and manufacturers all over the world. Often they connect on shared values and a common drive to solve universal challenges, such as how to work responsibly with natural materials; how to create lasting value; and how to balance innovation with respect for heritage. “What unites us is … a shared belief that quality, craftsmanship and sustainability matter, and that objects can have both cultural and practical value,” says Johanna.

Join KFive on Saturday 12 September, at 1/249 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills to meet Johanna in person, and experience folkloric magic and Finnish traditions within the HALTIJA forest.

At 10.30am on Saturday, Johanna will be speaking as part of the panel discussion, Forest to Form: Timber, Tradition and Contemporary Finnish Design, exploring the relationship between forests, craftsmanship and contemporary design, and what Australian designers can learn from Finland's respect for timber and longevity. More here.

See you in the forest,

Erna Walsh
Founder, KFive