Saima Design Wood Flooring

red dot
red dot award: product design 2009

Saima is a wood flooring that reflects light in a specific way generated by the wood properties of the Finnish birch. The top layer of the precious wood does not proceed horizontally but the wood fibres are arranged vertically, thus creating the reflection effect. The most important innovation is the colouring method for the birch wood fibres, which maintain their ability of reflecting light. The colour does not only stay on the surface but penetrates all birch layers. Originally Tapio Wirkkala developed the colour in the 1980s. Now it is manufactured on an industrial scale thanks to new production methods. Pekka Toivanen designed Saima Raita as a combination of dark-coloured birch veneer layers with natural-coloured layers. The result was a special product variation. The broad range of manifold combinations, among them different options to lay the flooring, create a new sense of space.