Artek

Founded in 1935 by four young Finns led by the visionary modern architect Alvar Aalto, Artek is renowned as one of the most innovative contributions to modern design. Proventus has owned Artek for roughly a fifth of its life time. It all started when a representative of Aalto's heritors contacted Proventus and asked us to help save Artek and its cultural heritage.

In bringing together Artek, with its remarkable history as a flagship for modernism, and Tom Dixon, Proventus is trying both to build a new furniture and interiors business, and at the same time to create a new kind of design partnership to help manufacturers, retailers and investors manage change.

The European furniture business is certainly changing, though not quite to the extent, or in the same way as the toy market. There are some similarities in the challenges facing Artek with the position of BRIO, but they are not so extreme. The furniture market does still have high end brands that can command a premium over low-cost generic products. The issue facing furniture made in Europe is more a question of consolidation, with small companies going through mergers, and family-owned businesses looking for succession strategies.

Artek is developing its existing product range, and will address new markets, while maintaining its heritage based on the classic designs of Alvar Aalto. It has a strong identity, and considerable customer loyalty. It has also been the victim of stagnation, the result of a lack of development. The challenge is to reconnect to the original Artek ideology and create high quality products that can be sold in large enough numbers to justify investment in the production facilities that can make them available at competitive prices. This process is lead by Tom Dixon and the Artek management. Artek will retain a close relationship with production to maintain its expertise and its ability to innovate.

Design Research is the name under which Proventus’ partnership with Tom Dixon operates. It is the umbrella for Artek and Dixon’s studio in London, including a design consultancy and the Tom Dixon line.

One of the driving forces behind our partnership with Dixon is to learn more about the creative process of product development. We believe that this is a process that is underdeveloped in a lot of mid-sized companies. It is the kind of input that Dixon has already offered to the Habitat furniture chain and many other companies.

The Design Research partnership is intended as a means to broaden the range of expertise that Proventus can bring to bear on our other investments, adding product development and manufacturing to existing skills in change management and financing. We are continuously pursuing this strategy and seeking new partnerships in the field of product development.

Read more:
"No sleeping beauty - Artek's 70th anniversary"
Artek's launch of Bambu
Alvar Aalto through the eyes of Shigeru Ban