Finland 100: 10 – Functionalism

Functionalism, the essence of Finnish design. The bicycle and snow shovels in this image still do the job, what more do you want! Obviously, this is a rather simplistic point of view. You just have to look at the bicycles being produced in Helsinki by Pelago to get an idea of how the balance between form and function can produce a work of serious craft. Then again, their bicycles would also still be around for as long as the one in the photo, so we come back to the same point. First comes function…