WELL FINNISHED - Key Persons
Paavo Viljo Tynell (25 January 1890 - 13 September 1973). Born in Helsinki at the end of the 19th century, Paavo Tynell's childhood was the one of a regular working class kid back then. Member of large family, his parents were not able to provide him an upper education. After he finished elementary school, he started working at a young age as an apprentice at G.M Sohlberg's workshop. He immediatly started working on metal materials during his apprenticeship. This experience lead him to study the art of designing lights which was just blossoming during the 20s. As a matter of fact, in the late 1920s, electricity became available widely in Europe which lead to a higher demand on lighting systems. At this time, Paavo Tynell was able to go back to school, he studied metal arts at the Central School of Applied Arts in Helsinki.*1
Paavo Tynell started his career purely as a plater and blacksmith, until in 1912, he joined Koru Oy which was founded by Architect Eino Schroderus. There, he started studing metal virtu and as a student project, he produced his first ever documented brass lamp. In 1913, Tynell travelled to Germany and worked for a short period in a metal factory before going back to his work and studies at Koru.
In 1916 he left Koru to continue his studies at the Central Applied Arts School (Now Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architcture) with Eric Ehrström as his teacher. During his first year, Tynell proved to be so skillful, that he was asked by the headmaster Werner Von Essen to join the school as a teacher, which he did in 1917. *3
In 1918, and along with his teacher E. Ehrström, artist Emil Wickström, industrialist Gösta Serlachius, and fellow metal artist Frans Nykänen. TAITO OY was founded shortly after the end of the first world war by several designers and investors including Eric O. W. Ehström who was Tynell's former teacher. The company started producing the work of several designers just after its launch. Paavo Tynell was one of the first designers hired by the company.*1. During the first year Taito offered a wide range of different material lights and other metal items from smaller to large custom works. In the early 20s, Tynell became the head of metal work and was mostly in charge of the lighting fixtures. The company TAITO worked in close cooperation with architects for their own projects. One of the main contribution from the early years of TAITO was to work along Alvar Aalto for his famous Paimio Senatorium. Until the beginning of the 50s, most of the metal components and lights used for Aalto buildings were from TAITO. *1. As electricity was becoming a standard across Europe, TAITO continued to grow until 1932, when it focused almost entirely on lighting items. TAITO's first catalogue showcasing only light fixtures was realised in 1932.*1
In the 1930s Taito focused on the production of lamps. The small shop grew into a factory, which soon employed more than a hundred people. Before the Second World War, the factory moved to Vilhonvuorenkatu, where it was located until the end. Taito Oy made a wide range of light fixtures, both standard and custom designed as well as "art" lamps for public spaces. After the war, Paavo Tynell began to design using brass. It was the only metal which was immediately accessible as it was a genuinely domestic product thanks to the mining company Outokumpu. Brass light fixtures became Paavo Tynell's trademark and it would take him all the way to the US. His lamps were presented there in 1948 and they immediately received much attention. *2. In 1953, Idman Oy, acquired the majority of shares in Taito Oy, and - contrary to Paavo Tynell's wishes - decided to combine ldman's and Taito's factories. The production remained at Vilhonvuorenkatu, but all the business was transferred to ldman. This was a bitter time for Paavo Tynell, but he stuck with his company and most of his skilled workers did likewise. Paavo Tynell continued to work on a freelance basis, through his own design firm. He worked directly with both Finnish and American architects producing the lamps at Taito's factory. Idman Oy moved in a different direction during this time as it was primarily interested in Finnish market, and investing in the development of series production. This led to the closing of Taito's factory in the early 1960s and moving the production to Mikkeli. It should be noted that designers such as Tapio Wirkkala, Mauri Almari and Maria Lindeman made light fixtures for Idman before and during this time.*2
Job Titles:
- Archives
- S Work in Overseas Production
As I managed to discover during my research, we can find Paavo Tynell's design in other production factories overseas and specially in the nordics. As several document shows Paavo Tynell design can be found in Bröderna Malmströms Metallvarufabrik catalogs during the 40's, manufactured in Malmö in Sweden. As you can see on the pictures below some of well known design from Paavo Tynell can be found in their catalogs. By going throught the Malmström's guest book we can also found that an Idman representative meet up with the direction on May the 7th 1951.
More over Paavo Tynell works have also been produced under licence by a norweigian company: Arnold Wiigs where we can find several models designed by Paavo Tynell on their catalogs.