Karelia-Upofloor believes in added value created by design

Karelia-Upofloor Ltd has a long history of investing in design in the development of the Saima family of hardwood flooring, a range of products that meets the needs of today's designers and consumers both technically and aesthetically.

Karelia-Upofloor believes in product design that is carefully integrated into production processes. Established in 2008 and located in conjunction with our Kuopio production facility, our product development lab is a unique unit in our industry, constantly developing new research, tests and product development projects.

Design is not a value in itself, but in Karelia-Upofloor's field - the flooring business - design adds entirely new values and visual impact to products, says Karelia-Upofloor's CEO Mikko Kilpeläinen. But in flooring visual impact must go deeper than the surface, as in the Saima range that features a vertical veneer structure that is both a practical and aesthetic choice. By investing in design we are part of the architectural and design value chain that ultimately benefits the users of public spaces and private homes: our well-designed product range offers an almost endless selection on which to base the creation of your own plans and dreams regarding colour and material. Without a strong design approach in our processes, we would lose this crucial ability to create the added value required by end users. And this is our ultimate aim: to process our raw materials into top design products that will sustain decades and decades of use.

- We boast a tradition of product design of which Saima is a perfect example: as early as the 1980s, Saima was an exceptionally innovative and challenging product due to its solid colouring and vertical veneer structure, says Kilpeläinen. Celebrated Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala took a keen interest in the product and was the first to use Saima in a public space - the refurbishment of the Finnish Glass Museum in Riihimäki. Wirkkala also chose Saima as the flooring for his own exhibition that toured around the world, with almost one million people worldwide stepping on the beehive grey Saima hardwood flooring designed by Wirkkala and the material standing up to the wear remarkably well.

Design Director Pekka Toivanen from Design Studio Muotohiomo has participated closely in the product development and colour design of the Saima range. Implemented with Karelia-Upofloor's technology expert and hardwood flooring structure innovator Kyösti Puurunen, the project outcome finally enables the production of the revamped Saima product family using the original solid colouring method and introducing new colours that match contemporary interiors.

For further information contact
CEO Mikko Kilpeläinen, phone +358 50 542 5884
R&D Manager Kyösti Puurunen, phone +358 40 849 5525