Simo Heikkilä graduated from the Ateneum School of Applied Arts with a diploma in interior architecture in 1967 and was thereafter employed by Marimekko until 1970.
In 1971 Heikkilä founded his own design studio in Jyväskylä, Finland from where he designs furniture, kitchen interiors, lightings, carpets etc for both private and public spaces. During the 1960 Heikkilä began working with Yrjö Wiherheimo, and together they designed several minimalistic chairs, of which Visio for Vivero from 1980 is one of the most well-known. To enhance the comfort of the Visio chair Heikkilä and Wiherheimo developed a simple but innovative spring device. During the 1980´s and 90's Heikkilä and Wiherheimo collaborated with the Swedish manufacturer Klaessons which resulted in a number of profiled chairs such as the Flok chair in 1991.
Heikkilä has worked as a teacher at Atenuem School of Applied Arts (where he was the director of the Wood Studio), the Aalto University (where he was a professor at the School of Art and Design from 2007-2011), the Tampere University of Technology and the Estonian Academy of Art from the 1970’s until the 2000’s. He has also been a visiting lecturer at the University of Bergen and HDK-Valand University of Gothenburg.
In 1999 Heikkilä was awarded the Swedish Bruno Mathsson Price and has also been the recipient of the Forsnäs Prize (1992) and the Kaj Franck Design Prize (2013). In 2001 he became an honorary member of the Finnish Assosciation of Desingers.
Simo Heikkilä has participated in and designed several exhibitions around the world. He is represented at museums such as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, The Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York, the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft in Gothenburg and the Museum of Furniture Studies in Stockholm.
