Paavo Tynell

Paavo Tynell (1890-1973) was a Finnish industrial designer specializing in lighting design. He was also co-founder of Oy Taito Ab, an art and lighting company, and had a successful career as a freelance designer for various international companies during the 1950s and 1960s. Paavo Tynell was married to the glass designer Helena Tynell (1918 - 2016).
Paavo Tynell began his career in Helsinki at the beginning of the 20th century as a tinsmith, but quickly developed into a good blacksmith specializing in metal finishes. While working for Koru OY, a Finnish metal art forging company, Tynell qualified as a master craftsman in 1913. At the same time, he was studying at Taideteollisuus Keskuskoulu (now the Helsinki University of Industrial Arts), where he eventually worked as a teacher. Kaj Franck and Gunnel Nyman, to name a few, later become his colleagues.
In 1918, Paavo Tynell set up his own company Oy Taito Ab with Gösta Serlachius, Emil Wickström, Eric Ehrström and Frans Nykänen. Initially, the company created a variety of metal objects, ranging from industrial lighting to more demanding works of art such as statues, railings and silverware. However, as one of the leading producers of lighting fixtures in Finland in the early 20th century, Taito Oy began to focus more on lamps during the 1930s, with Paavo Tynell as the chief designer and CEO.
In 1953, the majority of Oy Taito Ab was purchased by another Finnish lighting company, Idman Oy, a trading partner with whom they have cooperated over the years. idman has decided to reorganize the production and administration of the company, and to abandon the use of Taito as a brand. Despite the loss of the brand he was creating, all this led to a new career, even more international for Tynell. Since Idman wanted to focus more on mass-produced items, the following year he began designing as an independent designer for the American lighting company.
Tynell continued to draw regularly for Idman until the early 1960s, and the company continued to produce the most popular lamp ever designed by Tynell, a rectangular, square-shaped "starry sky" ceiling lamp until the late 1970s. different variants. Paavo Tynell lived permanently in Tuusula, Finland, where he finally died in 1973.