Tapani Hyvönen graduated in 1974 as an industrial designer from the University of Art and Design Helsinki, UIAH (present-day Aalto University School of Art and Design).
He established Destem Ltd. in 1976 and was co-founder of ED-Design Ltd. in 1990. After serving up to 2012 as CEO of ED-Design Ltd. Hyvönen is currently Chairman of the Board, concentrating on strategic planning and new businesses. Since its launch, ED-Design has been one of the largest product design agencies in the Nordic countries. Hyvönen has carried out his main professional work through his companies, the clientele of which include well-known Finnish and international companies such as Nokia, Polar Electro, Viewsonic, Elektrobit, LG, Mirion Technologies.
Hyvönen has been honoured with several awards in Finland, including the Arts Council of Finland's one-year grant in1981; the Arts Council of Finland's National Art & Design Award of 1984, the Industrial Designers TKO association’s Industrial Designer of the Year award in 1991, and the Pro Finnish Design award for Buscom Ltd. in 1992.
Tapani Hyvönen numerous positions of trust in the field have included membership in the Advisory Board (1989 –2000) of the Design Leadership Programme at the Department of Product and Strategic Design of the University of Art and Design Helsinki. Hyvönen has held important positions in design organizations, among others, board member of Design Forum Finland 1998–2002 and president of Ornamo, the Finnish Association of Designers 2009 - 2012. In addition, he is a member of the Helsinki WDC 2012 Planning Committee 2009, Member of the WDC Helsinki 2012 Committee 2011- and member of the board of Finnish Design Museum. Hyvönen has been a member of the board of ICSID the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design in 1999–2003 and 2009–2013.
Tapani Hyvönen has been on the juries of several national and international design competitions, including the Finnish Design Management Award, Pro Finnish Design Prize, the NID Business World Design Excellence Award in India, the Osaka Design Competition, Japan; the Bio design award, Slovenia; the Red Dot Award Product Design Essen Germany, the Red Dot Award: Design Concept, the Red Star Design Competition, China, and the Lotus Design competition, China 2011.
