In the Kiki series Tapiovaara employed a more clean cut design idiom instead of the more organic style he had favoured previously. Instead of wood, he chose oval steel tubing as the structural and unifying element of the whole Kiki collection.
Finnish designer Ilmari Tapiovaara was one of the greatest interior architects and designers of his era. With the mind of an explorer and soul of a craftsman, Tapiovaara was always looking for ways to improve everyday objects. He embraced the principle of social equality and became a leading figure in the years after World War Two, when design was no longer seen as a luxury for the few.
A main characteristic of Tapiovaara's work was that he explored its possibilities through multiplicity - he created many versions of each of his designs and reissued them in different shapes.
Tapiovaara's most iconic work is his Domus Chair, a stackable plywood chair which he designed for Domus Academica, a new student housing facility in Helsinki.