Minja Kolehmainen
- Furniture Design
- Public Art
- Crafts
- Designer
- Craftsperson
- Artist
- Uusimaa
www.minjakolehmainen.com
Minja K
- Competent
Artist and cabinetmaker Minja Kolehmainen explores the connection between humans and nature through hand-carved wooden sculptures. Her works invite viewers to pause, find peace, and reconnect with themselves. In 2021, Kolehmainen built herself a carving workshop and home inside an old camper van, and carved wood across Europe, often by the sea or deep in the forest.
This spring, she has settled in the village of Fiskars and opened her own exhibition space and studio, bringing her 4.5-year nomadic life gradually to an end.
In her works, wood carries with it time, place, and lived life. She works with carefully selected wood materials, using surplus wood from the furniture industry, naturally fallen trees, and trunks removed from yards and urban environments.
Kolehmainen is focused on hand-carved wooden sculptures that create peace, comfort, and courage. Some of the works are designed to be touched, creating a strong connection between the viewer, the artwork, and the moment. This offers a sensory experience rooted in the calming energy of wood and the power of nature.
It creates a connection to oneself, to nature, and to something greater.
Minja’s works have been exhibited not only in Finland but also in Japan, England, France, and Denmark. Two of her works are part of public collections: one in the Finnish National Gallery, and another in the Museum for Fine Woodworking Objects collection in New Hampshire, USA.
“Through my art, I hope to bring peace, hope, comfort and courage to those who may have lost them along the way.”
Experience
Work experience
Minja & Mobile Workshop/Artistic work
Artistic Grant, Finnish Cultural Foundation
2021 – 2022
Nikari Oy
Cabinetmaker
2013 – 2021
Unto This Last
Machining CNC router, Cabinetmaker
2010 – 2011
Education
Nikari Oy
Further education, Vocational examination of woodworking, apprenticeship at Nikari Oy, Fiskars, Finland
2013 – 2015
Vocational qualification in basic woodworking
Vocational qualification in basic woodworking, Teuva, Finland
2011 – 2013
University For Creative Arts
Applied arts (BA), Kent, Rochester, UK
2006 – 2009
Västra Nylands Folkhögskola
Visual arts
2005 – 2006
Works
2015
Sculptural chair, combining art and function.
Carefully selected material to make an illusion of a soft upholstery with an amazing organic pattern. Combining art and function. This piece is a portrait of myself in 2015. I have always seen furniture as a kind of human-like characters. The chair is a sculpture that combines art and practicality.Limited edition of 200 pieces. Numbered.Material: Structure Birch, Seat AshSize: H 78cm, W 45cm x D 47cm
2023
Learning my boundaries. Every disaster is a valuable lesson to learn. Either you learn from it or you will continue to get “beaten up”, until there is nothing left. It’s time to learn and make a change. It’s your responsibility.Material: casted plaster, Oak.
2023
Small sculptures you can touch. I encourage you to stop, slow down and sense. Calming and relaxing.Material: hand carved Linden
Installation where viewer could be part of making the art work. I invited person to look inside her/himself, feel the deep feeling/thought and let it out and share it with written words.
Text on the CONNECTION exhibition:Installation where you can be part of making the art work. I invite you to look inside yourself, feel the deep feeling/thought and let it out and share it with your written words.This is a safe space. No one is judging. I encourage you to take a marker, write your thoughts behind the face.I love you. <3Text with black marker is written by Minja Kolehmainen.Material: casted plaster, ink
2023
Art work you can touch and connect.Material: hand carved LindenSize: 48cm x 3cm
2023
Thoughts, patterns and feelings which serve you no more. It’s time to let go of them.. Material: hand carved LindenSize: one leaf is approximately 20cm x 10 x 1,7cmFor public and private spaces.
2022
Material: Hand carved Linden, Black stainSize: 22cm x 2,2cm
2022
Wall installation.Casted Plaster.
This work examines the cost of craft products. From a consumer’s point of view crafts and hand-made design are often seen as too expensive. This installation depicts the artistic process by accounting for every minute and all the different costs and stages that go into creating a hand-made product. Made in a batch of nine stools, for the FACTORY exhibition in Fiskars 2019.Limited edition of 9 pieces.Material: AshSize: Diameter of the seat: 29cm H: 44cm, stackable
2021
In 2021 I built a home and working space for myself inside a tiny old caravan. In that year I traveled, made contacts with artists, lived a full time artistic life in Finland and also in the rest of Europe. I got a lot of technical experience on carving and from a minimalist lifestyle. Staying almost every day and night by myself next to the Ocean, I started to be strongly connected to myself and to nature. This gave me a lot of inspiration for my art and for my personal growth. At this moment I am still living and working full time on the road. Picture by: Tan Vuong
2023
Wall sculpture/installation.Material: Casted PlasterSize: 1,5m x 0,8m