eero koivisto

eero koivisto. eero is part of the swedish design partnership / architect trio claesson koivisto rune .................................................................................

......................... shop .................. competitions .............. education ................ interviews ................... snapshots ................... history .......... contemporary

eero koivisto

was born in 1958 in karlstad, sweden.
eero is part of the swedish design partnership / architect trio
claesson koivisto rune (together with mårten claesson and ola rune),
founded in 1995. they design interiors and architecture, as well
as products. on the list of completed architectural projects are:
the swedish ambassador’s residence in berlin, Ingegerd råman house
and studio, kjell a nordström residence, sony music headquarters
stockholm, one happy cloud restaurant, gucci stockholm,
louis vuitton stockholm, scandinavian airlines euroshop, asplund shop.
current projects include a new privately funded house of culture in
central kyoto. furniture designs are produced by companies such
as asplund, boffi, cappellini, david design, dune, E&Y, offecct,
swedese among others.
eero koivisto has held the position as artistic leader at the
university college of arts, crafts and design in stockholm.
he is a lecturer and has spoken at université de montréal & toronto
university, canada; universad de americas, architecture puebla, mexico;
university of stockholm; the stockholm business school of economics,
the school of colour, trondheim architects’ association, norway
and many more.
http://www.claesson-koivisto-rune.se

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we met eero koivisto in cologne, germany on january 19, 2005.
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what is the best moment of the day?
I think walking to work (in the morning) and... kind of starting to sort
out things I have about a half hour walk to work and everything you do is kind of planned and nothing else goes wrong in the today...
and all those things you are going to do...
yes, I think that is the best moment in the day.

what kind of music do you listen to at the moment?
in the studio, it is mainly kind of pop and electronica because there
are alot of people working there and everybody has to sort of get
in on the music... (laughs)
at home it has lately been... tends to be people like jack johnson
(the surfer from oahu). alot of jazz music also.

what books do you have on your bedside table?
right now- architecture books.
different picture monographies.
alot of catalogues - we have a pile of them.

do you read design magazines?
I look in them. (laughs)
sometimes I read it if it is an interesting article but not... not really.

where do you get news from? newspapers?
in the morning when I check my mail I always check out their websites.
I think that is more convenient. you know in the morning I have to make,
to fix him (motions towards his baby son) you know
and he has a little older brother and has to get ready for school.
all the little things... I don’t have much time reading newspapers.
so when I get to work I check my mail, I check the news.
twice a week I read designboom. (laughs)

I assume you notice how women are dressing,
do you have any preferences?
happy.

this means colourful?
well it means different things mmhmm... joy.
joyful maybe.

what kind of clothes do you avoid wearing?
colourful ones. (grins)

do you have any pets?
no, I used to have a dog but it was so sad when it died so I don't
want to have another. no yet. maybe when he (his son) gets
a little bit older.

when you were a child, did you want to become an architect?
no, an airline pilot.
I didn't really know the difference between airline and fighter pilots.
but my parents are doctors...
but my father wanted to be an architect.
that for sure inspired me.
( I got lego when I was a kid, modernist lego
you could built researches into modernist houses.
with white, grey and transparent bits in littlegreen places.
it was really sad in a way. I wished I saved it...)

where do you work on your designs and projects?
wherever.
I mean mostly in our studio, but I travel quite a lot so on aeroplanes.
so waiting for waiting. you do a lot of waiting when you travel.
you think about it and you get an idea when you are
walking down the stairs.

who would you like to design something for?
a subway station. that would be cool.
I mean anything which is used by a lot of people, regardless of their,
... how can we say, their income and so... something useful
for everybody. I just recently did this toothbrush for a japanese manufacturer and they were done in a run of 250 000 copies
in its first run. I like that a lot.
it is exciting to work for a lot of people.

maybe an ideal client?
a passionate one, passionate client,
it doesn't need to be the same human as I am, but interesting.

do you discuss your work with architects and designers?
I am always discussing.
but when I meet people friends for dinner we don't talk about work,
but about other things. or we talk about general movements
of the moment. so not in do much detail.

describe your style, like a good friend of yours would describe it.
(yeah, that's a sort of proust style question)
to create useful objects and architecture which have a lot of poetry in it.
but white and not so loud.

is there are project that has given you particular satisfaction more
than others you have done?
always the last one.
and this is quite a good project (motions towards his son). laughs.
well, kids are not projects. no, no !

can you describe an evolution in your work from your first projects to the present day?
there is a swedish word, ... cannot really translate it.
little things happening and you don't notice them, but they are kind of smart -
little hidden things which have evolved and are getting better.
I am getting better at details and at proportions (like everybody).
I touch my nose attached to the computer screen.
shubert made a lot of sonatas and which ones have lasted?
the best ones.
having kids are also quite good.
because when you talk to them you have to reanimate yourself
and working with others is also quite good.

are you looking for new technological solutions?
the technique is always a hassle,
but I think if you are interested in new techniques, new materials,
you are always trying to learn. I had a friend in stockholm
and he always has these learning projects and he had this theory that
as long as you are learning things that you don't get staid.

what do you recognise as being very scandanavian in yourself?
it is very easy to go back to 'form is function and all of that ...
I think that I grew up in a society that taught you to care about
everybody the ideal that you have to share and care about
everyone and so on. and you can feel that
in any scandinavian society.

is there any designer and/or architect of the past you
appreciate a lot?
if you look them in the context in which they worked I like
(aldo) rossi and (arne) jacobsen.
and of course I like very much the work of le corbusier.

and those still working?
the architect rick joy from arizona.
like everybody else, I like marc newson, jasper morrison,
that kind of people.
I like people who do good work today. it is a lot of people actually.
I think somebody who is good today also would say, my girlfriend
(monica förster) but that is different, it is a bit difficult to promote
your own family. smiles.

you and monica förster are a couple and you are both
designers. how do you find a distinction between personal and
professional lives?
I don't think it is a bad thing.
the bad thing in our situation is that buying a dish rack becomes
like a three year project. (laughs)
and that is not good enough. etcetera.

any advice for the young ?
(8 people work in my studio, half young, half old.)
follow your heart.. follow your ideas about what you want to do.
I teach a lot and I tell my students to try and find your own language...
and try if there is a trend going on,
and there is always a trend in any time,
try to avoid doing anything in that particular trend that is popular right now,
because if you avoid it you will shape your own language.
which is really the whole ideal of this work.

quicktime clip
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what are you afraid of regarding the future?
if there are young people reading this on your website,
this may seem not relevant to them, but I worry that something
will happen to my kids which I think is something that every parent feels.
and of course I don't like that people don't like each other for
religious reasons. I think it is horrible.
in a way I am very positive about people.
I think that the disaster in indonesia and thailand
shows that there are a lot of people who want to give back.
which I think is nice after living with the irrational world for sometime
it shows that there is love and understanding.
the answer to the question is that I wish that my kids will have it maybe
a little bit better than us in this world.