Yrjö Wiherheimo graduated from Aalto University in Helsinki 1967 after which he founded his own design studio. Together with Simo Heikkilä, Wiherheimo was one of the late 60’s young and radical Finnish designers. The duo created a series of armchairs in a minimalistic design.
Wiherheimo was inspired by Gerrit Rietvelds use of thin wood boards as seat and back. Togheter with bent steel pipes, remininescent of the Bauhaus school he created a simple and ascetic Finnish design style. In 1984 Wiherheimo designed the chair Pinna, in 1987 Pinna and in 1994 Ilo. For the Swedish manufacturer Klaessons, Wiherheimo and Heikkilä created the collection Flok.
Since 1974 Wiherheimo is a professor in furniture design at Viah/Helsinki. From 1987 to 1989 he also held the same position at Statens Høyskole for Kunsthåndverk og design in Bergen. As an interior architect Wiherheimo worked a.o. on the interior of the Concert and Congress hall in Tammerfors.
