ArtistFinnish
Harri Koskinen
2 active items
Harri Koskinen was born in 1970 in Karstula, a small municipality in central Finland. He studied at the Lahti Design Institute before continuing at the University of Art and Design Helsinki — now part of Aalto University — where his graduation project in 1996 produced the object that would define his public profile for years to come. The Block Lamp consists of a standard light bulb cast inside two fused, hand-formed blocks of clear glass, trapping the bulb in suspension between the material and its own glow. The piece did not conform to the workshop brief it was submitted under; Koskinen made forty examples regardless and sold them all on the evening he presented them. The Block Lamp entered MoMA's permanent collection in 2000, has been continuously manufactured by Design House Stockholm since 1998, and in 2026 marks its thirtieth anniversary as a production object.
In 1998 Koskinen established his Helsinki studio Friends of Industry Ltd., through which he has worked across product design, concept development, and exhibition architecture. His client list bridges Finnish manufacturing heritage and global lifestyle brands: Artek, Iittala, Fiskars, and Marimekko on the domestic side; Magis, MUJI, Swarovski, Issey Miyake, and Alessi internationally. In 2011 he was appointed design director of Iittala, deepening a relationship with the Finnish glass manufacturer that had already produced several well-received tableware and lighting pieces.
Koskinen describes his working method as dualistic: a strict rational phase that defines function and material constraints, followed by a more intuitive phase that resolves form. The result is work that reads as self-evident — objects that appear to have found their final state rather than having been designed toward it. This quality is visible in pieces like the K Chair (with its clean metal frame and restrained upholstery), the Cosy pendant for Muuto, and his various glass and ceramic work for Iittala. The aesthetic sits within the tradition of Finnish material culture that runs from Tapio Wirkkala through Kaj Franck: directness of form, honesty of material, and an aversion to decorative gesture.
His work has received consistent recognition from the design industry. Awards include the Compasso d'Oro (2004), the Pro Finlandia Medal (2007), the Torsten and Wanja Soderberg Prize (2009), and the Kaj Franck Design Prize (2014). The Block Lamp itself collected Excellent Swedish Design (1998), Design Plus at Ambiente Frankfurt (1999), and Best New Product at the Accent Show in New York (1999).
On the Nordic secondary market Koskinen's work circulates primarily through his lighting pieces, as reflected in our database where 10 of his 16 catalogued lots on Auctionist fall under table lamps. The Block Lamp accounts for the majority of auction appearances, trading at Swedish houses including Metropol, Stockholms Auktionsverk, and Bukowskis. The highest price recorded in our database is 4,304 EUR for the K Chair, while Block Lamp examples typically sell in the 689–1,000 SEK range — consistent with their status as widely manufactured collectible design objects rather than rare editions.