Lokal Creators / Hanni Koroma

Hanni Koroma is an award-winning Finnish interior architect and furniture designer. Koroma has designed over a hundred private homes and public spaces both in Finland and abroad. In her work, Koroma combines functionality and aesthetics into timeless entities where her philosophic values in sustainable and playful design meet. Her furniture designs capture the essence of functional design whilst remaining true to Koroma’s artistic values. Koroma says that space is like a poem that evolves constantly. She emphasises that her designs are always a part of something larger, and in dialogue with contemporary culture. Her new Lohkoja cabinets are centrepieces of our summer exhibition Butterflies & Seeds. 

Lokal Creators / Hanni Koroma

Hanni Koroma is an award-winning Finnish interior architect and furniture designer. Koroma has designed over a hundred private homes and public spaces both in Finland and abroad. In her work, Koroma combines functionality and aesthetics into timeless entities where her philosophic values in sustainable and playful design meet. Her furniture designs capture the essence of functional design whilst remaining true to Koroma’s artistic values. Koroma says that space is like a poem that evolves constantly. She emphasises that her designs are always a part of something larger, and in dialogue with contemporary culture. Her new Lohkoja cabinets are centrepieces of our summer exhibition Butterflies & Seeds.

Lokal: Where do you draw inspiration from for the language of your design and the atmosphere of your spaces?

Hanni Koroma: “I get inspired to contemplate when I come across solutions that I don’t think work sustainably. The restlessness in our environments also inspires to look for calm, natural and balanced alternatives. It is good to study and analyse nature because it knows how to balance and emphasise in a great way the constantly living environment. Yes, everything around one activates the imagination.”

L: What are some important principles for you in material selection and manufacturing processes?

H.K.: “Genuine natural materials and, above all, types of wood are very close to me. I studied carpentry before I started studying interior architecture, so I understand the nature of trees better.”

L: Please tell us something about your new Lohkoja cabinets!

H.K.: At the construction site, I met the skilled pattern maker Antti Nousiainen, who had devoted himself to intarsia work. I got excited about the technique and wanted to try the possibilities with intarsia. The Lohkoja cabinet was created in collaboration with Antti. I became interested in researching how to get a versatile surface from one tree. Ash was well suited for this because its root pattern is very variable from a narrow line to a large curved shape. Ash also has large colour variations. For this Lohkoja cabinet, in addition to Ash, we chose Birch, which is so familiar to Finns. That gave us some calm surface.’

L: What made you want to work in interior architecture?

H.K.: “Even as a child I wanted to be an interior architect. My father was an architect and he wanted me to be an architect as well. However, in architecture, regulations and rules seemed to stifle creativity, and the artistic freedom of an interior architect interested me then and still now.”

Shop: Hanni Koroma’s Works

Explore: Lokal Creators

Lokal Creators / Benjamin Murphy

Benjamin Murphy, born in West Yorkshire, is a globally exhibiting visual artist. His current work explores themes of polarity, time, memory, and contrast – often rendered in charcoal on raw canvas. We visited his studio in Helsinki just before he set up his Lokal White Wall exhibition, Éanáir. 

Lokal Creators / Sini Villi

Sini Villi is a textile artist living and working in Helsinki, Finland. In her work Villi uses handmade ribbon to create three-dimensional textile reliefs and sculptures. We visited her Helsinki studio on a summer afternoon just after she’d set up her White Wall exhibition, Ammonites.

Lokal Creators / Fanny Tavastila

Fanny Tavastila is a painter who lives and works in Helsinki. We visited her studio at the Cable Factory one dark November afternoon to get a closer look at her works, which posess an innate and lyrical sense of colour, rhythm, texture and composition.

Lokal Creators / Minna Arponen

Minna Arponen is a jewellery designer and maker from Helsinki. Recently, she’s been fascinated by the tiny glass beads that she used to play with in her childhood. We visited her studio where most of her pieces take form, if not in her lap on tram rides through the city.