A sensation of ice and light, of heat and chill. Harri Koskinen plays with contrasts and the archetypes of modern society in his Block Lamp, which became a design classic as soon as it was launched in 1996.

The idea for the Block Lamp was born during a workshop at the University of Art and Design Helsinki. The students were given an assignment to design a gift for a wedding. ”I had this simple form that I wanted to cast in glass, and got the idea to ’wrap’ something into the glass. I first tried a couple of snaps glasses, but then the same thing happened like always when I’m in the design process – at a subconscious level I started reducing.” 

The Block Lamp has been showered with design awards ever since, including: Excellent Swedish Design in 1998, the Design Plus Award at the Ambiente Trade Fair in Frankfurt, as well as Best New Product at the accent show in New York in 1999. The lamp became part of MoMA’s permanent collection in 2000. Last year Harri received the Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Prize, Scandinavia’s most prominent design award.