JUHANI SALOVAARA

A participatory designer

Juhani Salovaara (s. 1943) aims to find durable product solutions and he is inspired by the design of products where the designer has to think about the contents, not only the form. A fierce interest in design has guided Salovaara in his career, and he has an ability to inspire and lead teams from sticky habits towards creativity. Salovaara applies a people- and situation-oriented, researching work method to his design process, and he already realized as a newly graduated designer that the best method for product design is to include the product users in the design process.

After graduating as an industrial designer and the valedictorian of his class at the School of Arts and Design in 1967, Juhani Salovaara was recruited to Holland to work at Philips' design department. At Philips, he penetrated ergonomics and observation psychology, which are, in addition to ecology, his guidelines. During his career, Salovaara has made many designs for the Finnish industry, and he has participated in establishing a total of nine design companies. In addition to his work as a designer, Salovaara has also worked as the professor of the Aalto University School of Art and Design. In 2003, Salovaara's designer career was awarded with the Industrial Designer of the Year prize.