Background story for the Kosmos Nordic Design collection

Atelje Sotamaa, a Finnish design agency led by brother and sister Kivi and Tuuli Sotamaa, were invited to design the Finnish Pavilion for the Astana World Expo in 2017. In collaboration with Stora Enso, the pavilion featured a modern exhibition space made of Cross Laminated Timber.

As a long-time friend and admirer of the Sotamaa’s design studio,I got interested in how the the concept of a modern CLT space could be applied to small-scale private houses. We got together and started brainstorming ideas, and as a result we decided to commission the Sotamaa team to design a modern guest house made of CLT. Since the location of the guest house would be in Eastern Finland, inspiration for the design should come from the large rock formations and bolders of the area.

In the summer of 2018 we had a prototype and a confirmed location for submitting an application for a building permit.

Two years later, in the summer 2020, the Meteorite house was ready. During these two years, we had gained a lot of valuable insights and ideas about CLT building and design. At some point, we realized, there could be enough ideas for an entire collection of modern buildings. The next step, a collection, seemed interesting enough at least to first try on the concept level.

The project resulted in a series of sculptural buildings and furniture that could serve a variety of purposes. In the designs, we have a fishing cabin, a bird watching tower, a modern home office, a variety of outdoor structures and a mini-spa. The collection got a name “Kosmos”. The next step was to test the ideas further and develop some of these concepts into products.