Ilkka Suppanen receives the Kaj Franck Prize 2020
The Kaj Franck Prize has been awarded in Finland since 1992 to personalities whose oeuvre reflects the values of the award’s namesake, designer Kaj Franck (1911–1989), also called “the conscience of Finnish design”. These values include high-quality, democratic and functional design that solves practical challenges and creates an opportunity for businesses to increase their profile through good design. This year the award and its EUR 10,000 prize money are going to designer Ilkka Suppanen. Born in Finland in 1968, he studied architecture, interior design and furniture design in Helsinki and has run his own firm since 1995. Suppanen experienced his breakthrough in the late 1990s with the group Snowcrash, who drew attention internationally through new materials and the new forms created from them, particularly for living areas. His work exhibits a sustainable, value-filled language throughout, supported by the characteristic approach of Scandinavian design.
