craft is the argument
I'm Okko Kivimäki, a Helsinki-based visual creative working across photography, graphic design, and motion — with recent work for major brands.
Currently taking on commissions in branding, content production, and visual identity.
Graduated from Turku University of Applied Sciences with a BA in Advertising Design, with prior agency experience.
Design and photography as one craft.
Take a look at some of it below.
Maku x finnair
Photographing Chinook IPA for its debut with Finnair
Product Photography, Brand Imagery
The brewer: Maku. The beer: Chinook IPA. The new home: Finnair's cabins, somewhere above 30,000 feet. I had the privilege to do product photography on the product itself and elevate the brand image as it prepared for takeoff. The set was built by hand in studio
A Finnish IPA, now poured at altitude.
BMW M5 Touring
“Product as art”
A 35mm study of the m5 touring in Frozen Purple
Film Photography, Personal Project
A personal study of the new BMW M5 Touring (G99), finished in Frozen Purple Metallic — a rare BMW Individual paint. The G99 is the fastest wagon BMW has ever built: a 727 hp twin-turbo V8 plug-in hybrid that hits 100 km/h in 3.6 seconds. Photographed beneath cherry blossom in Helsinki on 35mm. The film stock was Kodak Portra 400, exposed at EI 800 and pushed one stop in development to lift contrast and pull more saturation. Developed and scanned in collaboration with Carmencita Film Lab.
Lambi
Art direction and filming for a Metsä Tissue commercial
Art Direction, Commercial Production
A national commercial for Lambi. One of Finland and Sweden's household tissue brands. Produced for Metsä Tissue. I worked alongside the art direction and filming team across the shoot. Early agency work as a trainee, on a brand most Nordic homes already keep on the shelf.
selected snapshots
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Photograph from above the clouds
Rolling shot
Interior detail
Photograph from Reine
Finnlines
Capturing the calmer side of Baltic sea travel
Photography, Video, Social Media
Commission for Finnlines, photographing the calmer side of Baltic sea travel across the full route network. The work moved between ship and shore, capturing onboard life (services, dining, spa, the passenger experience) and the port destinations in Poland, Germany, and Sweden. Material produced for Finnlines' social channels, marketing, and editorial archive. Less a cruise ship than a hotel on water.
Matkahuolto
Animating traveler tales from a vintage Matkahuolto book
Animation, Social Media
An animation series for Matkahuolto, based on real traveler stories pulled from a vintage book in the company's archive. Extraordinary tales from journeys the brand had carried across decades. The animations brought those stories to life for social media. An old brand's archive, given a second life on a phone screen.
selected snapshots
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Sweden's largest waterfall by volume
Finnish summer cottage
Classic beetle
Photograph from a volcanic island
Maku HÄRKÖNEN
Launch campaign for Härkönen, Finland's first beer brewed with faba beans
Graphic Design, Social Media
Launch campaign for Härkönen Papu Ale. Finland's (and likely one of the world's) first commercial beer brewed with malted faba beans, roughly twenty percent of the grain bill replaced with bean. Released in autumn 2023. I worked on the campaign on graphic design for social content. The brief was to match the product: a beer honest about being something new, in a category that hadn't moved much in ten thousand years. A first for Finnish brewing, in service of more sustainable Finnish agriculture.
Sirppi & Vasara
Art direction and poster photography for a Turun Ammattikorkeakoulu production
Art Direction, Portrait Photography
A Turku UAS production where I co-handled art direction and did unit photography across the shoot. The poster itself was shot on a Mamiya RB67 in medium format.