Creative Workspace Interior

The glass-floored piano loft, charred wood and Celtic vibes encourage wild ideas to sprout in this workspace.

When the light artist Kari Kola from Valoparta Oy described how he would like the newly-founded collective workspace Vaski to look like, we got really excited – ambitious plans that required lots of creativity to make them come true in the form of wood. Kola wanted to have Celtic-style kitchen cabinets and a dining table, and a loft above the kitchen space for brainstorming while playing the grand piano – because why not?

So we started designing – and came up with a 2,8-meter tall loft structure with a frame made from charred, brush-sanded and waxed solid pine. We also added some carpentry symbols to the pillars to represent our craftsmanship.

The light-structured staircase was made from individual step elements that attach to each other without a separate frame. We also wanted to make the handrail look as light as possible, so we reinforced a thick rope with a metal wire, and Sami from Pesälän Paja forged the iron banisters.

The local pine in charred form was also used to make the robust dining table. Sami forged the metal legs and carved some runes on the ends as well. Also the supporting pillars in the kitchen show some Celtic vibes as we hand-carved some decorations on them.

For the kitchen furniture, we used oak that was treated to make it darker. We made the kitchen counters, shelves, cabinets as well as the hexagonal boxes that can be multi-used as sofa tables or storage units for the office slippers.

Interior designer Anu Kankkunen from Sisustus Tuuma was involved in the overall design of the space, and the gigantic world map on the wall was painted by Katja Kouvalainen from DecoraDora.

As a project, this was a dream come true for us, as we got to play with shapes and structures and create a space that is nothing like your average office. Ideas will surely flow in this space!

Furniture and technical design: Miikka Kotilainen | Woodartist
Interior design: Anu Kankkunen | Sisustus Tuuma
Woodwork: Woodartist
Metalwork: Sami Hyvärinen | Pesälän Paja
Photos: Kasper Garam ja Joona Kotilainen | Tovari Marketing