Paavo Tynell lighting

Paavo Tynell 1890-1973

Paavo Tynell was a Finnish designer born in 1890 in Helsinki. During his early career as an apprentice with the firm OY G.W. Sohlberg AB, Tynell worked with sheet metal and packaging manufacturing. The knowledge he would acquire during his six years at the firm in the early 1900s would form the basis of his career as a designer and manufacturer of luminaires and lighting solutions.

From craftsmanship to groundbreaking lighting design

A couple of years after Paavo Tynell had worked as an apprentice, he co-founded the art foundry OY Taito AB in 1918. For the next few decades, Tynell was the company's managing director and artistic director. The company's early years coincided with the time when the electrification of society was growing rapidly. This contributed to the rapid growth and development of the market for lamps, and caused Taito Oy's production to develop rapidly from small-scale production to factory production in the late 1920s.

Significant for Paavo Tynell's lamps is the combination of different materials such as brass, fabric and cardboard. He also uses opal glass in different colours. In terms of style, Tynell designs lamps partly in the art deco style, partly in a more stripped-down and functionalist style. The lamps were developed through a balance between decorative craftsmanship and industrial production in function-oriented units. During the interwar period, the company became the trendsetter in Finnish lighting design.

In the late 1940s, Paavo Tynell creates numerous lamps while honing his decorative style. As a result, the lamps become increasingly individual in their appearance, taking the form of graceful and organic shapes such as flowers, leaves and snowflakes.

His lamps are a great success internationally, mainly in the USA, but also nationally in his home country Finland. Architects were the main clientele for Paavo Tynell's luminaires, which contributed to his becoming one of the leading designers of lighting in public spaces. The Glass Palace and the Parliament Building in Helsinki are two places that have been adorned with Tynell's lighting fixtures.

The Danish company Gubi has resumed production of some of Paavo Tynell's ranges. At NO GA you will find the table lamp 5321, the floor lamp 9602 and the ceiling lamp 1965.