Pam Fredman, Ilkka Suppanen, Tomas Söderberg and Tom Hedqvist at the award ceremony.
Photo Mikael Lammgård

Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Prize 2015 to Finnish designer Ilkka Suppanen

The Röhsska Museum Prize Committee has decided to award the Finnish designer Ilkka Suppanen the 2015 Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Prize of SEK 1 million.

- Ilkka Suppanen's evolution from acclaimed product designer and educator to ideological design strategist and visionary is admirable, says Museum Director Tom Hedqvist.

Ilkka Suppanen's design is characterized by time and thought. Time to think about thinking. With trust and a humanistic eye, he puts content before surface and people before form. In Ilkka Suppanen's world, the complicated is made simple and the simple is made great.

The prize was awarded at a ceremony on November 4, 2015. Between November 5, 2015 and January 10, 2016, the Röhsska Museum presented an exhibition by and with this year's laureates.

documentary film

In connection with this year's award, the documentary film "3 days with Ilkka Suppanen" will be shown where we get to know this year's recipient of the award. The film is made by Stavfel produktion, director and producer: Carl Johan Engberg.


Ilkka Suppanen
Ilkka Suppanen studied architecture at the Helsinki University of Technology and interior architecture and furniture design at the University of Arts and Design (Aalto University), both in Helsinki. He completed his design studies at the Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, in 1992. In 1995 he founded Studio Suppanen and since then works with international clients such as Artek, Axis, Cappellini, Ferlea, Leucos, Lucente, Nokia, Zanotta, Marimekko and many others. Ilkka Suppanen's products have been shown at the Venice Biennale, Milan Furniture Fair and MoMA in New York. Ilkka Suppanen is the initiator of the Club of Helsinki, an international network of designers, entrepreneurs, academics and politicians, focused on global sustainability.

Studio Suppanen