Olavi Tapio Hänninen (14 December 1920, in

Lapinlahti Lapinlahti (; sv, Lapinlahti, also ) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Northern Savonia region, located north of the city of Kuopio. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The populati ...

– 16 June 1992 in

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

and interior architect. Olavi Hänninen's design projects ranged from furniture to trams and church silverware, including total interior designs for many public facilities. His

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

designs also included tables and chairs, and he was well recognized for his work on the Palace Hotel interiors together with

Antti Nurmesniemi Antti Aarre Nurmesniemi (30 August 1927 in Hämeenlinna – 11 September 2003 in Helsinki) was a Finnish designer. He is perhaps best known for his coffee pots and his interior design work. Biography Antti Nurmesniemi's work includes enamel c ...

and Olli Borg. Hänninen designed a renowned plastic chair with metal structure for the hotel's café. In the 1970s, his designs included the new

Valmet Nr I Nr I is a class of articulated six-axle (B′2′B′ wheel arrangement), chopper (electronics), chopper-driven tram operated by Helsinki City Transport on the Helsinki tram network. All trams of this type were built by the Finland, Finnish metal i ...

trams for

Helsinki City Transport Helsinki City Transport or HKL ( Finnish: ''Helsingin kaupungin liikennelaitos'', Swedish: ''Helsingfors stads trafikverk'', abbreviated to ''HST'') is the official city-owned public transport company in Helsinki, Finland. It operates the Helsin ...

. Before starting his own design office in 1961, Hänninen worked at architect

Viljo Revell Viljo Gabriel Revell (25 January 1910 – 8 November 1964) was a Finnish architect of the functionalist school. In Finland he is best known for the design of the Lasipalatsi ("Glass Palace") and Palace Hotel, both in Helsinki. Internationally, ...

's offices in the early 1950s, where one of his tasks was to design selected interiors for the Palace Hotel building completed in 1952. In 1957, Hänninen received a gold medal at the 11th

Milan Triennale The ''Milan Triennial'' (Triennale di Milano) is an art and design exhibition that takes place every three years at the Triennale di Milano Museum in Milan, Italy. History The exhibition was originally established in 1923 as a biennial architect ...

for his design of a dwelling exhibition in the Finnish Pavilion. In 1977, he received the ''State of Finland Award for Industrial Design''. He was also an honorary member of the Finnish Association of Interior Architects. A book on Hänninen's life work, ''Muovituolista raitiovaunuun'', consisting of articles written by six Finnish experts on arts and design, was published in 2006. Olavi Hänninen was married to textile artist Airi Snellman (1930-2022).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanninen, Olavi 1920 births 1992 deaths People from Lapinlahti Finnish interior designers Finnish designers