Saima Design -hardwood floor has won the red dot design 2009 award
Saima won the renowned red dot design award with the Wirkkala and Raita models. Karelia-Upofloor launched new colours along the Saima Classic at the beginning of the year; such as the grey colour originally designed by the famous Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala. Design Director Pekka Toivanen and a Helsinki-based design company Muotohiomo have participated in the design of the renewed Saima family.
red dot is the world's largest and most respected design award. The 2009 awards were sought by more than 3.300 submissions from 49 countries. An international jury reviews and evaluates the submitted products according to criteria such as degree of innovation, functionality and the formal quality. This ensures the seriousness of the competition and its international acceptance. An annually changing constellation of the group of jurors, which is made up of renowned designers and design experts from all over the world guarantees a high degree of objectivity and reliability. The jurors reach their decisions independently and impartially. The award is as a seal of quality; it stands for membership of the best in design and business.
Many possibilities of the Design Classic hardwood floor
Saima's slat-patterned surface, based on Aino and Alvar Aalto's design, creates an exceptionally rich, wood ambience in a room. Tapio Wirkkala took an interest in the Saima hardwood floor in the 1980's and influenced its product design. He wanted to create a new uniquely deep grey colour for Saima and defined it as "Beehive grey" and the material as solidly coloured. Thanks the trough-dying, the floor stays beautiful for a long time and if resanding is needed, the original colour is retained. Thanks to the many laying patterns and colour options, Saima can be used to create individual and unique floor designs. Saima is also suitable for walls and ceilings.
Thanks to its special structure, Saima uniquely reflects light and the colours of any room. Raita, Wirkkala and the cocnag brown Ruska are made of through-dyed birch veneer. Their colour reflect light in the same unique way as the original Saima Classic. Saima Lumi is a white matt lacquered hardwood floor.
What is red dot?
In previous year there have been even more than 11,000 submissions. The award is divided into the "red dot award: product design", the "red dot award: communication design" and the "red dot award: design concept." Saima participated in category 10: Architecture and interior design, which comprises of designs from interior decoration and building materials to computers; production facilities to laboratory equipment; cars to mobile phones.
More information on the red dot award: www.red-dot.de.
More on Saima: R&D Manager Kyösti Puurunen, kyosti.puurunen@kareliaupofloor.com, tel +358-40-849 5525.
Design Director Pekka Toivanen, pekka@muotohiomo.com, www.muotohiomo.com.
Photos: merja.jukola@kareliaupofloor.com.
Karelia-Upofloor
Karelia-Upofloor Ltd is one of the leading flooring producers in Europe. The main products of the group are Karelia and Upofloor branded hardwood and resilient floorings. Karelia-Upofloor group comprises five production units in Finland, one factory in Russia and one in Rumania. Our products are exported to around 40 countries. The main markets are the Nordic countries, Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, the USA/Canada and Japan. Net sales in 2007 was 128.8 million euro and today the group has around 950 employees.