Interview with Antti Anttalainen
JANUARY 2026
Antti Anttalainen (FI, 2000) is a Helsinki-based industrial designer whose practice focuses on the dialogue between material, process, and form. His work reflects an analytical curiosity toward how objects are made and perceived, often using manufacturing constraints as a framework for creative exploration. He seeks beauty in efficiency and harmony in structure, creating objects that articulate the intelligence of their making.
Nokka chair
Nokka chair is an experimental chair concept developed as the end-product of my bachelor’s thesis Design and Development of a Chair Made from Surplus Materials. The project was conducted in collaboration with an award-winning Finnish design brand Made by Choice, as it was based entirely on the surplus plywood from the production of their famous Kolho chair. The thesis explores the creative potential of surplus materials in furniture design while examining how the use of such materials shape the design and manufacturing process in technical, structural, and aesthetic terms.
How did you end up doing your thesis project for Made by Choice?
So, the way this thesis collaboration came about was during my time as a design trainee at Made by Choice. When I started thinking about the topic for my bachelor’s thesis, I initially had some other ideas in mind, but I struggled to find something that felt truly meaningful. I didn’t want to design something just for the sake of designing, it needed to have a real purpose.
During my trainee period, we often visited the Made by Choice factory in Halikko, and during those visits I had noticed several times this tall stack of surplus blanks by the CNC machine. They were the leftover pieces from milling the Kolho chair’s leg profiles, and for some reason that pile always caught my attention. One day, while walking past and looking at those pieces, it just clicked that maybe there was potential to create something new, not just something small, but something that would really make the most of these materials. I could imagine a chair: a back leg here, a front leg there, and maybe a seat from these pieces. Even though the pieces were very organically shaped and there wasn’t much material to work with, the idea felt interesting and fitting for my thesis, considering my desire to find a real purpose for the project.
At that point, I had no idea if it would even be physically possible to design a functional chair out of those materials. But I brought the idea to Antti Olin, the CEO of Made by Choice, and he thought it sounded relevant and timely. Choice was happy to collaborate and provide the materials. I got free rein to work independently on the design, and once the thesis and prototype were finished, we would review the outcome together and see whether there was any future potential, if it was even feasible at all, which at that stage was still a big question mark.
Any interesting insights or realizations during the designing process?
Well, I can’t really point to one generally interesting insight, because these things are quite subjective. But from my own perspective, and for the project’s sake, every small realization felt interesting because it moved the project forward in some way. I learned something new each time, and that kept the process engaging.
That said, there was one particularly significant insight, the key realization that made the whole project even possible. The leftover pieces had these grooves at different heights, formed during the CNC process of milling the leg profiles. The grooves that were higher up and closer to the top surface left very little usable surface area at those levels. But as I started analyzing the pieces, I realized that the lower the groove was, the larger the usable surface area became at that level.
Eventually, at the lowest groove, the surface area was finally large enough to make any component at all within standard dimensions. And without realizing this, it wouldn’t have been possible to create viable components from these surplus materials. So that was the main, and really the essential insight that made it possible to work with these materials in this project.
Did working with surplus materials feel limiting or inspiring, and how did it influence your design decisions?
I’d definitely say that working with surplus material naturally limits the design compared to using virgin raw materials. But I don’t see that as a negative thing at all, actually the opposite. I think those limitations can lead you to results you probably wouldn’t have come up with otherwise, almost unlocking a new level of creativity. It just means you have to approach the design differently and let the material guide the process. I really value that aspect, because it makes you appreciate the material in a different way. For me, it was more interesting, and also a new kind of starting point, to be completely unsure of the final outcome rather than beginning with a fixed idea or direction.
And of course, this doesn’t just influence the process, it also affects the solutions. In the final outcome, this is most visible in the chair’s curved forms, which allowed the components to fit more efficiently into the limited and organically shaped surplus materials, following the natural contours of the blanks. If the components had been more typical straight pieces, far fewer of them would have fit, and many wouldn’t have fit at all.
You can also see this impact in the legs, which have small protrusions that blend seamlessly into the side rails. Those protrusions aligned perfectly with the only suitable spot in the blanks where the legs could be placed, which then allowed the side rails to be made shorter. Longer rails simply wouldn’t have fit within the available material. Without that insight, the chair’s depth would have ended up far too short to meet standard dimensions.
In fact, these kinds of creative solutions emerged precisely because of the material limitations. They pushed the design toward using the material as efficiently as possible while also adding visual interest to the structure and the final outcome. These features likely wouldn’t have existed at all without those limitations.
If you could start the project from the beginning, what would you do differently, if anything?
That’s a really good question and something I’ve actually thought about recently. Honestly, I don’t think I’d do anything differently. I’m really satisfied with the end result, and it is the end result of this particular project. And by that I don’t mean it’s perfect or beyond improvement, but rather that this was an experimental project to see whether it was even possible to design and prototype a functional chair concept from these tricky surplus materials. And we found out that yes, it is possible, and this is the outcome of that project.
So in that sense, I see the project as a success, and that’s why I wouldn’t change it. Of course, I’m aware that there are plenty of things that could and should be refined or further developed if we were to create a new, improved version of the chair, but that would require a slightly different starting point. We’ve even had some conversations about that possibility recently. But given the original constraints and the material as it was, this is the outcome that could be created, and I’m happy with itas it is.
When did you arrive at the final form or concept for the chair - did it come suddenly, or was it the result of many experiments?
I’d say the final design of the chair was definitely the result of many experiments rather than a sudden idea out of nowhere. In fact, it was really a result of repeated experimentation in 3D modeling rather than, for example, physical prototyping. The final form came together gradually through digital prototyping, and quite naturally as the process unfolded.
To put it briefly, the whole process really kicked off once I had precisely modeled the real surplus blanks into the 3D environment. Only then was I able to properly analyze the surface areas of the pieces and compare them to the dimensions required for standard-sized components. Once the blanks were accurately modeled in the digital space, and since we were dealing with sheet material, I could start sketching the components two-dimensionally within the contours of those blanks. From those 2D sketches, I began assembling and building the 3D model step by step through many rounds of trial and error. It was through that iterative process that the final form was refined, adjusting it little by little to make sure it could be fully constructed from the available materials, look visually pleasing, and meet the required dimensions to function as a practical, usable chair.
In what direction would you like to develop as a designer in the future, and has this project changed your goals or mindset in any way?
Absolutely. This project really taught me, and demonstrated, that instead of always creating and designing new things from virgin raw materials, we should first look at what already exists and find new possibilities and inspiration there. Circular economy, at least in theory, is about eliminating waste by treating all waste as potential material for new products and new uses.
This project really reinforced that idea for me and made it concrete. It showed that this approach is genuinely a viable starting point for new design. Of course, I’d heard about sustainable design and circular economy principles before, but this experience made them tangible. It’s easy for those concepts to stay as nice ideas in theory, but here I saw firsthand that they’re actually doable.
In the end, the chair concept that resulted from this project illustrates how surplus materials can serve as a foundation for design that is both aesthetically and ethically sustainable. It’s definitely a direction I want to keep growing in as a designer, and I strongly believe it will, and should, be a significant part of future design work.
What do you hope people think or feel when they sit in your chair?
In a way, I hope people don’t feel anything particularly special beyond the obvious, that it’s a comfortable, sturdy, and pleasant chair to sit on. In other words, I’d like the chair to be received just like any other piece of furniture, whether in a private or public space, without anyone immediately realizing it’s made from surplus materials just by looking at it or using it.
Of course, I’d be happy if that backstory positively influences someone’s choice once they learn it. But in a broader sense, I think it’s a step forward when people no longer carry these preconceptions about recycled or surplus materials, like assuming they’re somehow flimsy, less durable, or lower in quality. What I hope is that the chair is valued for what it truly is, a well-designed, durable piece made from high-quality materials. And that its design gives the material the value and dignity it deserves, regardless of its origin.
