2023 main exhibition at EMMA presents the colourfully imaginative, experimental work of a designer who has left a long-term mark on Finnish design, Yrjö Kukkapuro (b. 1933 Viipuri Province). Celebrating the designer’s 90th birthday, the exhibition is a fresh, significant inroad continuing EMMA’s extensive offering as an exhibitor of design. Besides looking back at Kukkapuro’s design career, Yrjö Kukkapuro – Magic Room pairs his designs with his beloved, long-term source of inspiration: art.
Kukkapuro’s connections with modern and postmodern art are highlighted in this exhibition, which sparks the imagination by introducing his furniture designs and prototypes in dialogue with works of art. The exhibition architecture will be inspired by Kukkapuro’s playful experimentalism, taking its cue from the Magic Room concept he developed in the 1980s.
The exhibition will present Kukkapuro’s signature piece, the iconic Karusellichair, as well as experimental prototypes and anonymous office furnishings. EMMA will exhibit Kukkapuro’s furniture alongside works of art echoing similar bold creativity and playful treatment of form, colour and materials. Some of the featured artists are Kukkapuro’s close friends, while others are more distant sources of inspiration. The exhibition includes, among others, works by Matti Kujasalo, Lars-Gunnar Nordström, Airi Snellman-Hänninen, Silja Rantanen and Osmo Valtonen, mostly curated from EMMA’s own collections. Also presented are works by Kukkapuro’s wife Irmeli Kukkapuro(1934-2022), who significantly influenced his graphic treatment of line especially in the 1980s, as exemplified by his tattooed chairs with silk-screened seats and backrests created in collaboration with graphic artists.
