Kari Korkman, Founder and director of Helsinki Design Week:
Our news is that we have our “own house”. We have rented the picturesque sorting room area of the Old Customs Warehouse, which had stood empty for nearly 40 years.
The international advisory board has been put together in the background of Helsinki Design Week and its purpose is to develop HDW and its events for 2012.
Text Heini Lehtinen
Jussi Pajunen, Mayor of Helsinki:
Design is an integral part of the Finnish identity and society. The ability to renew this valuable resource of expertise is an important part of our international competitiveness.
The World Design Weeks project which will be launched at Helsinki Design Week aims to create and strengthen the cooperation and synergies between different countries’ design weeks. Helsinki Design Week will be the engine of the project together with the London Design Festival, Dutch Design Week and a couple other design weeks.
Text Heini Lehtinen
A one hundred-year-old building sitting idle was found in the heart of the city. It now offers a fabulous setting for new design, art, fashion and music. This year the Old Customs Warehouse located in Katajanokka will be the main venue for Helsinki Design Week.
Text Taru Torikka
It’s been almost two years since the Industrial Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) selected Helsinki as the World Design Capital for 2012. Time has passed quickly and now the design year is only a few months away.
-
WDC Helsinki 2012 will give a foretaste of its program in mid-September. The entire program will be launched at the end of October.
The borders of the design capital are not meant to be barriers. The globally significant ideology belongs to everyone and the Internet is a suitable medium for a target group this big.
-
www.wdchelsinki2012.fi
Kaj Kalin is one of the most brilliant people in the Finnish design world, but he prefers to stay out of the limelight.
Text Petra Vuolanen
-
To Declare / Exhibition
14-18 September 2011
Old Customs Warehouse, Helsinki
Did you know that only one percent of the world’s water is drinkable? Combining design and awareness of the limited amount of drinking water, Wonderwater Café will be launched at the Beijing Design Week this year and in 2012 it will arrive at Helsinki Design Week.
Text Heini Lehtinen
-
Wonderwater Café Tian Hai at Beijing Design Week, 26 September–3 October 2011 and in Helsinki in 2012.
Finnish fashion will take over the brand-new Helsinki Music Center. Helsinki Design Week LIVE will present not only the iconic designer Vuokko Nurmesniemi, but also new designers and artists.
Text Emma Vuorinen
-
Helsinki Design Week LIVE / Fashion show with live artists
17 September 2011
Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki
A Finnish-British artistic couple’s weather-proof work of art will color the new cultural center in Katajanokka.
Text Petra Vuolanen
-
Heart / Installation
8-19 September 2011
Old Customs Warehouse, Helsinki
More popular than ever, the Design Market will once again fill Merikaapelihalli with a market atmosphere. With the right preparations you’ll find the best stuff.
Text Ida Kukkapuro
-
Design Market / Sales event
10–11 September 2011
Cable Factory, Helsinki
PechaKucha was created as an antidote to boring presentations and has since provided entertainment, laughs and inspiration.
Text Ida Kukkapuro
-
PechaKuchaNight
14.9.2011 ja 16.9.2011
Old Customs Warehouse, Helsinki
Helsinki is known for its architecture and unique urban milieu, but many of the interesting places are not open to the public. OpenHouseHelsinki will change that for four days.
Text Ida Kukkapuro
-
OpenHouseHelsinki / Open doors/tours
15–18 September 2011
Around Helsinki
Every Finn has eaten out of dishes designed by Kaj Franck. This year marks the centenary of the great designer’s birth.
Text Ida Kukkapuro
Kaj Franck 100 years / Several exhibitions
Design Museum, 15 June–25 Sept 2011 / Habitare Fair, 14–18 Sept 2011 / Design Forum Finland, 16 June–18 Sept 2011
Trash will be used to create new products that may be designed for an entirely different purpose than the original product.
Text Heini Lehtinen
-
Trash Design / Exhibition
14–18 September 2011
Habitare Fair, Helsinki Exhibition & Convention Centre, Helsinki
What does young designers’ work look like right now? You’ll find out when the Hit-Happens 2011 design event returns after taking over Design Forum last fall.
Text Emma Vuorinen
-
Hit-Happens 2011 / Exhibition
14–18 September 2011
Rauhanasema, Pasila, Helsinki
The prototypes selected for the exhibition range from small items such as textiles and larger spatial elements.
Text Petra Vuolanen
-
Protoshop / Exhibition
14–18 September 2011
Habitare Fair, Helsinki Exhibition & Convention Centre, Helsinki
The different programs which the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences runs speak of new technology and a better urban environment as part of Helsinki Design Week.
Text Petra Vuolanen
First there was an ecological chair, then a light and now multifunctional furniture.
Text Ida Kukkapuro
-
EcoDesign / Exhibition
14–18 September, 2011
Habitare Fair, Helsinki Exhibition & Convention Centre, Helsinki
Mostly Cloudy 
20X0 – A Journey into the Future
8. October 2011
Heureka – The Finnish Science Centre
Yellow City – Illustrated Stories from Helsinki
16. January 2012
All around the city
20. January 2012
Kiasma – Museum of Contemporary Art
Outi Heiskanen – Primordial Sea
11. February 2012
Didrichsen Museum
15. February 2012
City Museum Helsinki
Bi-monthly magazine about Helsinki. In Finnish and in English.
