Secto Design and designer Seppo Koho crossed paths in 1995 when Tuula Jusélius was seeking a designer for her new company, whose first products were furniture made of innovative glue-laminated wood. The very first time Tuula Jusélius and the newly graduated design architect Seppo Koho met they knew they were kindred spirits: The two share a respect for Northern wood as well as Scandinavian, clear design and professional woodworking.
Customers who bought furniture from the company complained about not finding suitable lamps to go with the furniture. Tuula Jusélius noticed the same: there simply were no wooden lamps on the market. So Seppo Koho received a commission. The result was the Secto pendant lamp that is still the backbone of the collection.
Seppo Koho finished the first prototypes himself, proving that making Secto lamps was possible. Finding a manufacturer capable of serial production was difficult, however, until Tuula Jusélius and Seppo Koho found their way to the cabinetmaker Heikki Saastamoinen from the town of Heinola. He developed a method that allowed the lamps to be manufactured serially by hand.
A new challenge followed. The delicate light of the Secto lamp caused delight, but some of the retailers were not ready for the idea of a wooden lamp. It took a while for the message transmitted through the eye to overcome preconceptions. Fortunately, there were those, too, who immediately sensed the attraction of the Secto lamp. For these trailblazers Secto Design has wanted to be a faithful business partner.
In the early 2000s, Tuula Jusélius's company turned its focus to lamps, giving up furniture. After the Secto product family, Seppo Koho's drawing board saw the birth of Octo, Victo, Puncto, Kontro, Owalo, and the latest, the spiralling Aspiro.
Heikki Saastamoinen's small workshop has grown into a factory and a prominent woodworking hub in the Heinola area. The new models have generated work for other manufacturers as well, and in addition to Heinola Secto Design lamps are now also made in Järvenpää. Altogether the supply network includes some twenty partner companies and contractors.
http://www.sectodesign.fi