Tapani Aartomaa

Tapani Aartomaa (1934–2009) was an award-winning and internationally known Finnish graphic designer and professor whose main pillars of design were clear primary colours and simple compositions as well as Aartomaa's rather impressive skills in typography. In addition to his actual design work, he had a significant career as a teacher at the Lahti School of the Arts and the University of the Arts in Helsinki.

One of Aartomaa's most important collaborators was designer and Aartomaa's teaching colleague Yrjö Kukkapuro. The duo's most famous collaborative project was called "Tattooed chairs", i.e. different chairs designed by Kukkapuro and decorated with Aartomaa graphics, which they created together between 1991 and 2009. One of Aartomaa's most famous works is also the coat of arms of the Finnish Päijät-Häme province, which depicts the mermaid Vellamo based on local folklore.