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Harri Koskinen's latest project is a chaise longue made from splint, a thin strip of natural untreated wood used by Finnish masters for centuries to make different-size baskets and containers for carrying and storing things. The material is identified with summers spent in Finland picking berries, mushrooms and shopping at local good markets.

The chaise is part of a current exhibition Fennofolk - New Nordic Oddity, at the Design Museum in Helsinki. The exhibition features 80 Finnish artists and designers were invited to analyze Finnish culture from a fresh perspective.

Fennofolk - New Nordic Oddity
June 11 - September 28, 2008
Design Museum
Korkeavuorenkatu 23
Helsinki, Finland

From the Press Release:

A chaise longue out of splint
The chaise longue features two stackable splint baskets. When in use, you can fill the chaise longue with the material you want, while ideally maybe also using it to store, for example, bed linen. The cross-woven splint makes for a comfortable flexible material for lounging pleasure.

Giftaway splint basket
A unique sales item at Café Alvar A. is the Giftaway splint basket designed by Harri Koskinen. Koskinen's modern splint basket comes with the linen straps familiar from the webbing in Aalto furniture, with leather straps available as an alternative. This modern version of the splint basket can be bought exclusively at Café Alvar A. The Giftaway basket is the first item in the Café's giftware selection offering the best of Finland.