Nikari is a Finnish design studio and solid wood furniture manufacturer — founded in 1967 by master cabinetmaker and designer Kari Virtanen, who opened the company in Seinäjoki (South Ostrobothnia, western Finland), near the river Nikkarinkoski — from which and from his first name Kari the company name was formed. In Finnish, "nikkari" means cabinetmaker/carpenter, which names the brand's core. 1993: relocation to Fiskars Village (Raseborg, western Finland), Finland's oldest machinery workshop of 1837 on the bank of the Fiskarsån — today Finland's most significant centre for craftsmanship, art and design. 2014: commissioning of a hydroelectric plant at the nearby river rapids — since then the entire studio and workshop operation runs exclusively on renewable electricity. 2009: Johanna Vuorio (CEO, majority shareholder, trained in Design Business Management and Wood Technology) assumed the strategic repositioning to a global design brand.

Materials: exclusively sustainably certified solid wood from northern Europe (Finnish pine, birch, oak a.o.) — wood as a living material, carbon sink, repairable and reusable for centuries. Production process: circular economy principles — metal screws for upholstery attachment (easily replaceable), regular CO2 accounting, resale platforms. Designers: Jasper Morrison, Cecilie Manz (Separat Screen — 2021 first Finnish furniture piece with EU Ecolabel), John Pawson (Frame Low Coffee Table), Alfredo Häberli (April Tables), Harri Koskinen, Louise Campbell, Claesson Koivisto Rune, Simo Heikkilä, Wataru Kumano. Early collaborations: Alvar Aalto (Lakeuden Risti Church Seinäjoki, 1967–1974), Kaj Franck. Products: chairs, benches, tables, armchairs (December Lounge Chair — Jasper Morrison/Wataru Kumano), stools, screens, tableware. Awards Kari Virtanen: Bruno Mathsson Award 1987, Pro Finlandia Medal (from the President of Finland), MoMA Permanent Collection (Fruit Bowl, 1993).

For architects and interior designers seeking for luxury residential, premium boutique hotel, cultural building, educational and demanding international contract projects with an authenticity, craftsmanship and sustainability claim a Finnish solid wood furniture studio founded in 1967 by master cabinetmaker Kari Virtanen in Seinäjoki (Finland) and based since 1993 in Fiskars Village (Finland's oldest machinery workshop, 1837) that with exclusively renewable hydroelectric power (since 2014), an EU Ecolabel-certified product (Separat Screen/Cecilie Manz, 2021), early collaborations with Alvar Aalto and Kaj Franck, designers including Jasper Morrison, Cecilie Manz, John Pawson and Alfredo Häberli, the Bruno Mathsson Award (1987) and a MoMA collection inclusion (Fruit Bowl, 1993) — Nikari operates in Fiskars Village as the only Finnish furniture studio with its own hydroelectric plant and the first EU Ecolabel-certified Finnish furniture piece (Separat Screen/Cecilie Manz, 2021), practising craftsmanship as consistent circular economy.