The motto for Helsinki’s World Design Capital 2012 bid was “The people make the city”. Moreover, “we need the world and that is why we ourselves must be useful citizens of the world”. We should spend more time exploring other cultures and invite the world to our place too.
The Finnish design company Freedom of Creation is celebrating its 10th year in business. Freedom of Creation has reinvented the 3D printing technology business, stepping away from the idea that the technology is only used to support the design stage. FOC’s final product is the valuable design models it creates.
Freedom of Creation’s 10-year anniversary exhibition at the Cable Factory, Helsinki, 1-3 September 2010.
Kari Korkman, founder and director of Helsinki Design Week:
World Design Capital 2012 is a unique opportunity and there will not be another chance, so the bar has to be set high. Mediocrity is not enough for an excellent result. We must acquire passion, vision and ability to carry things through in order to implement the strategies.
Jussi Pajunen, Mayor of Helsinki:
It is certainly a great honor to carry the title of the World Design Capital 2012, but we are now clearly obliged to act as a trend-setter for other cities to follow.
The Designpartners100 exhibition will display the most interesting design products of the year.
Designpartners100 exhibition at Helsinki Fair Centre on 1–5 September 2010.
Being selected as the World Design Capital is not a reward for past actions but a recognition of a promising, internationally interesting design city.
The first program frame for the World Design Capital 2012 project will be completed in April 2011, after which it will be developed further until 2012.
ICSID, the main organization behind the World Design Capital project, will hold a board meeting following the Helsinki Design Week, bringing with it an international group of esteemed design professionals to Helsinki.
According to Airan Berg, design, theater and the educational world or any other combination of arts, science and life will not differ much from each other. Berg will be one of the PechaKucha speakers during the Helsinki Design Week.
PechaKuchaNight, 2 September 2010, Cable Factory.
During the summer, architect Travis Price and a group of thirty design and architecture students from Finland and the United States have built a Kalevalakehto installation within the confines of Seurasaari.
Kalevalakehto will be opened at Seurasaari on Helsinki Design Week’s opening night on 26 August 2010. PechaKuchaNight on 2 September 2010 at the Cable Factory.
The Open Studios event opens the doors of creative offices and companies to the general public. This year Open Studios will get a new boost from the business world as Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, is supporting the event for the first time.
Open Studios 2−3 September 2010.
The items designed by Hannu Kähönen − for example, modern Abloy keys, the low-floor tram and the new garbage containers seen in public places around Helsinki are a part of people’s lives.
Hannu Kähönen’s Kaj Franck exhibition can be seen in the Ahead! Area of the Habitare Fair, 1–5 September 2010.
The Dutch Brainport Design display for the Happy Living exhibition brings together a cross-section of creations from Eindhoven to the Cable Factory.
Brainport Design for Happy Living at The Cable Factory, 1−4 September 2010.
This year the winner of the Habitare Design Competition will be selected by Alfredo Häberli. This year the theme of the Habitare Design Competition is recycled seating.
Habitare Fair, 1–5 September 2010, Helsinki Fair Center.
Järvi & Ruoho’s Teemu Järvi and Heikki Ruoho are the guys behind the HDW exhibition architecture at the HDW main venue, the Cable Factory.
The Cable Factory will be the main venue for Helsinki Design Week. The exhibitions and events will take place on 1−3 September 2010.
Design Market has grown to be the biggest design warehouse sale in the Nordic region. This year there will be over 70 companies selling their products.
Design Market at the Cable Factory, 28–29 August 2010.
ITE Fashion presents forty-five best DYI fashion pieces collected all over Finland during the spring and summer.
ITE fashion, Cable Factory, Helsinki, 1–4 September 2010.
Author Kari Hotakainen is the official Helsinki Design Week Magazine’s aphorism man, who observes design from a writer’s perspective.
Illustrator and graphic designer Lotta Nieminen received an inspiring illustration assignment. Her illustrations will be a part of Habitare’s visual look for the next three years.
Habitare fair runs from September 1–5, 2010 at the Helsinki Fair Centre.
Liike’s fashion show will present the spring and summer collections of all designers within the group, as well as the joint Denimalism collection, which includes products related to collections of each label.
Liike’s 10th Anniversary fashion show at the Cable Factory, 2 September 2010.
The new wave of Spanish cuisine and design will set the table at the Cable Factory’s Foodjects exhibition.
Foodjects exhibition at The Cable Factory 1–4 September 2010.
Cooperation of Martela and Karim Rashid include product design, events and perhaps an exhibition, too.
Karim Rashid visits Martela House on 31 August 2010.
Lavatanssit, organized by the designer group Kaamos, is a combination of design exhibition mixed with a summery open-air dance.
Lavatanssit i.e. exhibition opening on Espa stage (Esplanadi park) 31 August 2010 at 6 pm.
Lavatanssit exhibition on Espa Stage, 31 August–3 September 2010.
The Creative Space of Madeby.fi show will present collections by Antti Asplund, Marita Huurinainen, Tyra Therman, Kaipaus and Jolier among others.
Creative Space of Madeby at the Cable Factory, 28 August 2010.
Interior design students of Metropolia have designed a zero-energy house with students from the University of Tennessee.
Metropolia’s UT Zero Energy House exhibition at Fredrikintori on 26 August – 5 September 2010.
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.
