Paavo Tynell

Paavo Viljo Tynell (25 January 1890 – 13 September 1973) was a Finnish designer who is best known for his lighting fixtures and lamps. Among other things, Tynell designed the lighting for the office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in New York and for the Parliament House and Lasipalatsi building in Helsinki.[1]

Paavo Tynell.

Tynell attended the Central School of Applied Arts in Helsinki, and he taught there metalwork in 1917–1923. He was one of the founders and the main designer of Taito company, and managing director of the firm in 1918–1953.[2] He collaborated with distinguished Finnish architects, including Alvar Aalto, and his lamps were widely sold not only in Finland but in the United States, too, where his designs were popular especially in the 1950s.[3] He used brass and glass in an elegant and simple fashion, and his designs were often decorated with perforated patterns.[4] In 2018, the Danish design company Gubi relaunched a collection of Tynell’s lighting designs.[5]

Certain Tynell’s lamps have been auctioned at high prices. In 2019, for instance, his pendant “Snowflake” from circa 1950 was sold for 180 000 euros at Artcurial in Paris and an electrolier from the same time period for 134 000 euros at Christie's in New York.[3]

Since 1947, Paavo Tynell was married to the glass designer Helena Tynell née Turpeinen (1918–2016). They had three children.[6]

References
  1. Tynell, Paavo in Uppslagsverket Finland (in Swedish).
  2. Aav, Marianne; Viljanen, Eeva, eds. (2005). Paavo Tynell ja Taito Oy (in Finnish). Helsinki: Designmuseo. ISBN 952-9878-39-7.
  3. Heino, Timo-Erkki (25 April 2020). "Tynell tarjoaa luksusta". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). pp. C 1–3. ISSN 0355-2047.
  4. Untracht, Oppi (1988). Saara Hopea-Untracht: Elämä ja työ – Life and Work. Helsinki: WSOY. pp. 35–39. ISBN 951-0-14377-4.
  5. "Paavo Tynell design". Finnish Design Shop. Retrieved 2019-08-08.
  6. Koivisto, Kaisa (2007). "Tynell, Helena (1918–2016)". Suomen kansallisbiografia 10 (in Finnish). Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. pp. 101–102. ISBN 978-951-746-451-2.
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