Vaarnii: The doric company from Finland that fascinates us

Central Image: Vaarnii sofa | Image courtesy of Vaarnii

It was a sweet spring day when we met Antti Hirvonen online. The weather was warm, with unseasonably high temperatures, and people were starting to come out of their homes and wear lighter clothes. The sky, on the other hand, was blue and pleasant. The paradox with this description, is that it applied to both Antii from Elsinki and me from Athens, and that's how we found the first common ground between us to open the conversation about Vaarnii furniture; the sustainable furniture company he has co-founded with Miklu Silvanto.

Vaarnii dining table and bench | Image courtesy of Vaarnii

Vaarnii is a company from Finland that launched in 2019 and utilizes, for the pieces it offers to the public, the relatively underrated pine wood, whose wild varieties abound in the Scandinavian country and which, after being properly managed to ensure their numbers, ends up in the local factories with which the brand collaborates. The end result is everyday objects with a down-to-earth look and fairly simple details that largely justify Antti's answer about what good design is: "furniture should look like furniture", he told me almost dogmatically, but also following the Nordic design's functionalist genealogy. Eventually the material bends by giving them a brutalist twist, with a simple material that can withstand the elements and multi-use, and which there, finally, finds its environmentally positive application. Their founder reckons the furniture can survive at least a hundred years; certainly longer than it took them to the time it took them to be thoughtfully cut.

Vaarnii factory | Image courtesy of Vaarnii

My interviewee's background, ranging from business studies to many years at Tom Dixon, appears Doric in the brand's well-established image but also in its synthesis of the local and the global, bringing fourteen designers from around the world to design thirty-seven products, which are given to local furniture makers around Helsinki for production. They are a contemporary company that loves the wear and tear of use in their solid furniture, which is almost reminiscent of pre-industrial pieces, having been made with the combined knowledge of the interconnected technological world we live in every day. Elegant copper details are given to each piece of furniture as a sign of their uniqueness, and simple construction joints bring something almost archaic to the finished object.

Vaarnii lighting | Image courtesy of Vaarnii

Our conversation reflected the logic of Vaarnii furniture, flowed naturally and concluded succinctly and simply, covering all my prepared questions and opening up several more that I had not anticipated. Vaarnii items have a special "flavor" that either completely draws you in or annoys you that they get it all right. What is certain is that for such a young brand, it looks robustly serious and functionally charismatic and we expect it to age sustainably as promised for the next hundred years at least.