SIO, Lars Räihä as a new chairman

SIO’s new chairman is Lars 'Lasse' Räihä.

“I am Lars Räihä, though I am better known as 'Lasse'. I live with my family in Espoo, Finland. We have three teenage children and a small dog. My spouse is also my colleague and we operate an interior design office from our home. As an interior designer I have worked in the field from the beginning of the 2000s. I have participated in many types of public and private projects, ranging from large hotels and business parks to private residences. With the broad range of projects, I have been able to encounter and get to know the different design industries in the field well and the differences of views they represent. This also enables me to facilitate the progress of the projects I participate in.

I am a very practically inclined and straightforward person – I see it as a strength of mine that I enjoy investigating and studying different subjects carefully and then apply the gathered knowledge creatively. I was elected Chairman of the Board of The Finnish Association of Interior Architects SIO for 2021. I have many years of experience in various boards of directors in different associations and organizations. I have been a member of the board of directors of Ornamo and I have worked for several years as a member of the board of SIO. I also work as an educator in the field of adult education in interior design. On a personal level, I would like to be able to focus more on product design and product development in the future.

We are hoping to have the possibility to host ECIA’s meeting in Helsinki this fall.

Lars ’Lasse’ Räihä”