HELSINKI, FINLAND

WOOD: HARD MAPLE

Josh Krute is a furniture and textile designer based in Helsinki, Finland. In 2019 he graduated from Aalto University’s Contemporary Design MA Program, and currently works as a workshop instructor for Aalto University. His furniture prototypes have been published and exhibited internationally – some of which include the Helsinki Design Museum, the National Museum of Finland, Vitra/Artek showrooms in the Netherlands, and the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair. Currently, Josh is involved in a range of projects, commissions, and collaborations. He approaches design towards sustainability, and experiments with materials and artisan techniques to develop objects that have unique qualities for everyday use.

Like much of Europe, Finland locked down as the virus struck and Krute initially had to work from home, which provided him with inspiration for his collection of products when AHEC’s brief arrived. ‘I wanted to design something for storing all of the smaller, remote working materials and supplies,’ he says. ‘When I was working from home my notebooks and computer were just scattered on the dining room table. So the easiest solution was to just put them in a box.’ However, he wanted that box to be beautifully designed and crafted.