Although he thinks it’s a bit cliché for an artist from Scandinavia , there is no question about it: Kustaa Saksi is heavily inspired by nature. His organic shapes and arabesque lines easily remind us of dark woods, meandering rivers and steep mountain slopes. Kustaa: “Especially in Finland, you don’t have to go far to find yourself in total wilderness.”

But this doesn’t mean Kustaa has limited himself to nature’s palette as well. On the contrary: Kustaa loves bright colours, from deep purple and vivid yellow to down right, crazy psychedelic compositions.

Art nouveau and pop art from the sixties are also major influences on his work. He likes to mix these powerful art movements from the past in a modern fashion, using the computer in a way it doesn’t look like it was done with the computer.

Having worked for magazines and brands all over the world, Kustaa has made a new step in his career: designing for 3D. Earlier he did create prints for 3D objects like shoes, but now he committed himself to the real thing – with some help of a befriended artist and an advanced Xerox-machine. The sculptures were commissioned by pop up gallery Maxalot in Amsterdam for an exhibition called Heroes.

The first time he saw his computer renderings come to live it was in fact an orgasmic experience for Kustaa. So we joined Kustaa to Utrecht where we witnessed another stimulating session of the birth of an iconic sculpture. Wanna be excited too? Watch the short doc we did on this Finnish hero.

SubmarineChannel Crew: Director: Geert van de Wetering, Interview: Lotje Sodderland, Camera: Niels de Roos, Editing: Jorrit Spoelstra.

Thanks to the hospitable people of Protospace where artists can experiment with new techniques and materials and Maxalot, the pop up gallery in Amsterdam.