Founder and CEO of Tahkokallio Design, FI

Päivi Tahkokallio is Founder and CEO of Tahkokallio Design+, a strategic design agency operating from the arctic north in Finland.

With her track record in strategic and social design Päivi has been called ”mother of Arctic Design”, a design approach to support sustainable development of the Arctic, more topical than ever at a time when Europe has set an objective to become climate neutral by 2050. Currently Päivi is leading the Design Programme for Proto—Designers of Northern Finland, with The City of Oulu being The Cultural Capital of Europe in 2026.

Päivi is a Former President of BEDA (The Bureau of the European Design Associations), with more than 50 member organisations across Europe, concluding her term in 2021. As President Päivi led BEDA’s design policy work in Europe, with climate change, digitalisation and values as key topics, especially relevant in BEDA’s input related to the New European Bauhaus initiative—an initiative with a stronger co-design approach than ever before in the European Commission’s history.

Päivi has acted as a jury member for numerous international design competitions, including Compasso d’Oro, BRP Design Challenge, German Design Award, Taiwan International Student Design Awards, The One Show and Turkey Design Awards amongst them. 2026 has been her fourth edition of DesignEuropa Awards.

Päivi is an FRSA (Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in the UK), and a Committee Member of the Arctic Society of Finland.