Hot fifty – Nokia

In February, Nokia finally opened its long-awaited flagship store, designed by Eight Inc, in London’s Regent Street, after some three months’ delay. But you have to applaud the Finnish telecoms giant for its plans to take the West End by storm and consolidate its UK design team at the new central London offices.

The move has been masterminded by Nokia’s new chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, working with chief designer Alastair Curtis. Curtis, a Brit working in Finland, is also overseeing the Finnish design team’s move into the group headquarters at Espoo, to stitch design more firmly into the fabric of the business.

The ambition for the UK team is much the same. The new Great Pulteney Street premises, designed by award-winning London office design specialist Morey Smith, will bring together designers like Bill Sermon, formerly based at Nokia’s outpost in Farnborough in Hampshire, and former Samsung Design Europe design head Mark Delaney. Delaney joined Nokia last May from Plan, the consultancy he set up with Kevin McCullough, with the remit to oversee the design of the company’s phones for the mass market.

The offices themselves will have ‘raw and edgy’ interiors, workshop areas and live project rooms as well as a refreshments area and a roof terrace. ‹