Three Layer Cake

            Janne Kyttanen, describes himself as stubborn, determined, and independent.  When talking to him, it doesn’t take long to figure out that he’s also an iconoclast, and whatever he wants to do, he’ll do it, regardless of what others say and think.  Actually, in his words, he’d probably say whatever he wants to do he will create the way to do it, then do it.  Janne’s ideas are much deeper than mere design.  At University, Janne played professional squash as intensely as he studied (He got to 49 in the world rankings, but after 5 operations on his knees and ankles, he thought he’d still want to walk up the stairs as an old man, so he decided to give this a rest).  He says, ”If you Google me, you’ll find more references to my squash playing than you will to my design.  But when I played squash, design was my hobby.  Now that I’m a designer, squash is my hobby.  That’s just the way I am.”  He’s hyperactive, and this comes through in the breadth of his projects and in his being.  He’s across all points of the design process, a little because he wants to be, a little because he feels he needs to be, a little because he doesn’t know any other way to be if he’s going to be free.  Free to work, free to live, free to create.

            Freedom of Creation (FOC) was already the name of Janne’s University thesis from 1999-2000, and in 2000 became the name of his design firm.  His work was first recognized in 2003 at London’s 100% Design when FOC and Materialise presented their two-year collaboration work as a lighting collection under the MGX label, a contact he made during his University years. (Designer’s note:  This idea was presented to Materialise 6-7 years ago, but it took a few more years before they were ready to invest in it. Now there are quite a few other designers who are part of the collection, so Janne is proud the whole thing is going somewhere.)  Ever since his time at University, Janne has continued to focus on the bigger picture:  process, production, manufacturing, and design. Limiting himself to lighting is too constricting.  He needs to do more.  Given the choice, he would much rather create a material from scratch than be given a material to work with.  His dream project?  To create a new element, then create the machine to produce it, and so on.

At the 2006 edition of imm Cologne, FOC’s 1597 sconce design, designed by Janne, won the interior innovation award in the Materials Innovation category.  FOC is now focused on producing its own designs and exploring all different areas of Digitally Manufactured designs.  Next stop, 100% Design in September, where Janne will present FOC’s ever expanding new collection as well as other projects for other labels.  In January, interior design trend analysts said technological innovation is the wave of the future.  Janne was wondering when they’d catch on (but I’m sure he quite frankly wouldn’t care if they never had).

FOC design philosophy:  What you want each person who sees or purchases one of your creations to know about you, the story they will tell to their friends who see the object?  I wish people would stop for a moment and see the bigger picture. We are working on a much bigger concept here, more than just designing a few handbags or lampshades. Imagine if the same thing would happen to consumer products as has already happened to the music industry (Napster) or photography (Digital Cameras, Kodak). Some might like my designs and some not, but the people who don’t like them now have the freedom to interact with them and with the designer. If you don’t like them, what kind of product would you like me to design for you instead?

I don’t want to debate whose design is better than the others—this is something I feel really strongly about. I believe the new design classics in the future are the ones that are the most tangible ones.

For the other designers who keep on telling me “you could do so much more with the technology” than what I have done so far, I would like say that of course you can, but it’s all extremely complex and the economics behind this are still not known to anybody yet, so it takes a lot of time to even make one line of products worthwhile and have somebody buy them.

What’s the genesis behind your approach to design, not just in the manufacturing but also in the aesthetics?  I am just fascinated by the freedom offered by the tools that we work with. We are on the brink of a new industrial revolution in manufacturing, where in the future you will not be working with the limitations of certain technologies, but the only bottle neck will be your creativity. This is a very positive way forward and puts a smile on my face because I will also be able to manufacture any design I can think of.

Which of your accomplishments has brought you the most satisfaction?
Keeping FOC alive and keep believing in what I am doing. The concept is very revolutionary, but I have been working on this for about 6-7 years now with very little financial benefit, so it has not been easy to convince people on how the world is about to dramatically change in this field. It gives me great joy when finally people who didn’t believe me in the beginning are changing their minds.

Which strengths do you bring to Freedom of Creation?  If you were chosen to be part of a Design Dream Team, which role would you be chosen for?  I think I would be the coach.

Any designers or mentors who have shaped you/your ideas?  Not really. I don’t really associate myself a lot with other designers nor find inspiration from their work. I admire a lot of other people in other fields, who have done great things…sports, science, inventors etc. I don’t fully understand their fields and that’s why I find it more amazing. I am as interested in design as I am in different future technologies, science, sports and other areas as well, so I get most of my inspiration from there.

What are you working on now?  What would you like to work on?  What’s next?
I am working on several new different designs for sports, lights, toys etc, but all in the same field of Digital Manufacturing. At the moment I am very busy working on getting our logistical chain even better, you see, I am not just concentrated on designing products, but creating an entirely new supply chain which can be fed with as many of my designs as possible.  I have been working on this for several years already and things are finally starting to work out, so I am very excited to make the whole thing grow bigger and bigger.

Best city for design vibes?  Its not about the city, but just your environment wherever you are. I like Amsterdam though, but also other cities like London or New York.

More about Janne on the next page...