“It’s important for me to design products that are playful and have their own character, while simultaneously having a quiet presence. I don’t want for my designs to shout”, he says. After graduating from the Royal College of Art in London, Tolvanen started his own practice in 2005. In 2015, Tolvanen founded Studio Tolvanen together with his wife Julie Tolvanen, designing products for residential and contract use from their studio and workshop on the island of Lauttasaari outside of Helsinki.

On his initial idea for the Visu design for Muuto, Tolvanen notes: "I wanted to design a fresh, updated version of the ubiquitous plywood chair. After studying numerous classic plywood chairs, I eventually found a way of adding my own perspective to the design”.

The Visu family spans across various chairs, bar stools and lounge chairs available in a number of bases, sizes and colors with many possibilities for customization. On his approach for the design process of the Visu family, Tolvanen explains: “I sketch a lot of chairs before deciding on a direction. Muuto and I worked for four years on perfecting the structure, the curves and the details before introducing the design”.