Lavitta, as you no doubt already knew, means chair in Finland's Ostrobothnian dialect. Now it also means a piece of elegantly minimal Finnish chair design from Helsinki's Poiat.

Lavitta chairs are stackable, in the tradition of the landmark plastic chairs of the great British designer Robin Day, and are formed of just two pieces of moulded plywood, with the backrest and front legs forming one part and the back legs and seat forming the second.

The solution is ingeniously simple both to manufacture - the plywood is simply moulded - and in initial conception. Stylish enough to be a dining chair, yet compact enough to be stacked at the side of some super-chic village hall, the Lavitta offers typically Scandinavian practicality resulting in an understated elegance.

The chair is the latest result of a multi-national collaboration. Finns Antti Rouhunkoski and Timo Mikkonen met Marco Rodriguez while they were all students at Helsinki's Aalto University.

As Poiat Architecture and Design Office, the trio aim to offer "sustainability and long lasting aesthetics" in every project - from conceptual apartments to interiors and furniture.

The ethos is very much one drawn from the long-standing heritage of Scandinavian design that there should be nothing extraneous, nothing superficial, simply what's necessary for maximum utility, using the latest available techniques.

Simplicity equals serenity equals - in the case of the Lavitta chair - comfortable, almost reticent design that's conceived to last well beyond the end of next season.

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