Photo Martin Parr / Magnum Photos.

Laboratory experiments surrounding ways to combine high-quality photographic art with corporate involvement, social questions and good parties.

Opening its doors for the next 12 months in February, the Laboratory gallery is, as the name suggests, a space for testing new kinds of ways to approach art and art sponsorship. The art laboratory takes the displayed art seriously, but wants to relax the ways it is looked at. Social themes and corporate sponsorship do not cancel each other out.

The Laboratory gallery will fulfill HELI MÄENPÄÄ and ANNELI MAATRAIVA’s lifelong dream of creating their own exhibition space for photographic art. Mäenpää and Maatraiva, the founders of the photography agency Viewmasters, say the dream really took off when their long-time partner Nokia suggested cooperation for the World Design Capital year. The actual space is part of design store My o My’s premises on Erottajankatu.

The store’s downstairs has now been renovated to fit the gallery style, while the loft will continue to be used as a small My o My store, offering a selection of design items – possibly including items that are linked to the exhibition’s theme.

The closest equivalent to a design shop turned gallery might be the museum Palais de Tokyo in Paris. “We didn’t want to create a traditional gallery space with clinical white walls,” Mäenpää says. “After going through the gallery, a visitor can reward oneself with fantastic design purchases,” she says.

“We had been looking for a new and long-term way to take part in the World Design Capital 2012 Helsinki year,” says My o My’s owner PAULIINA LOUHILUOTO. “We happened to hear that Viewmasters was looking for a temporary gallery space and we decided to contact them. Laboratory’s atmosphere goes well together with My o My’s concept and we already knew Laboratory’s Exhibition Manager SUVI SALONIEMI as she has been the curator of art events held in our store previously.”

Friendship between art and companies

Corporate cooperation is important for Laboratory and one of its aims is to find and test new partnership models. The gallery owners are hoping to introduce new ways for companies to support the arts and make it easier for the corporate world and arts to cooperate.

Photo Martin Parr / Magnum Photos.

In addition to that Nokia is the main cooperation partner of Laboratory, the gallery owners will look for a suitable sponsor for each artist. With the help of a sponsor, it will be possible to support the artists financially also when the exhibitions are being prepared.

An artist can get a sponsor that shares the same values with him or her. The partnership may even lead to more long-term cooperation between the artist and the company. There is no standard model for cooperation; it will vary depending on the partners’ wants and needs. MARTIN PARR’s exhibition will show a making of video that was filmed using Nokia mobile phones, for example.

“The uncertain economic situation has made companies quite cautious about new kinds of sponsorship. Photographic artists and other people in the field of arts, on the other hand, have expressed a surprisingly positive attitude,” Mäenpää says.

Easily approachable and surprising

Laboratory will hold eight exhibitions during 2012. However, the exhibition schedule has only been agreed on until the summer because the gallery owners want the space to keep up with the times and be able to react to sudden opportunities.

Photo Martin Parr / Magnum Photos.

The exhibition series includes both young newcomers and experienced artists. The series will kick off with an exhibition by the prize-winning British documentary photographer Martin Parr, who used to work as a professor at the Helsinki School of Art and Design in the early 1990s. The series of photographs, called Think of Finland, was created after Parr visited Finland having been away for twenty years. In August 2011, Parr traveled from Helsinki to Oulu photographing small Finnish oddities and the tension between traditions and modern times.

According to Heli Mäenpää, the social dimension is a crucial element of Laboratory’s exhibitions. An example of this could be the photographic series by PERTTU SAKSA, displayed later in the spring, exploring the relationship between animals and humans.

The gallery owners hope that Laboratory will manage to surprise visitors time after time. They also want to highlight the fact that the gallery is easy to approach. Laboratory will open its doors temporarily on the Restaurant Day (4 February), giving the public a chance to see the unfinished gallery space and enjoy Finnish treats. The official opening will take place on 10 February.

At a later stage, there will be more parties to match the themes of each exhibition – or just for fun. The people behind Laboratory want to put the spotlight on their large circle of friends, with experts from all kinds of creative fields. The aim is to create a relaxed place for friends to hang out. “We will for example watch the ice hockey World Championships here,” Mäenpää promises. †

Laboratory. Erottajankatu 9 B (courtyard), 00130 Helsinki. Open Tue-Sun 11 am–6 pm. www.laboratory.fi
Martin Parr: Think of Finland 10 Feb–8 Apr 2012.

Text Taru Torikka  Photos Martin Parr / Magnum Photos

Image Nene Tsuboi & Tuomas Toivonen.

Helsinki was appointed as the World Design Capital for 2012 in the fall of  2009. The city was only given two years to organize the giant project, which is less than half the time that Turku had to prepare for their year as European Capital of Culture.

This is how to create a design year.

1) Build the organization

In August 2010, when program director KAARINA GOULD began her work with the International Design Foundation, preparing the World Design Capital 2012 Helsinki year, she didn’t have a desk or an office. The future office space near the Senate Square was still under construction and the team which consisted of only a few people met in executive director PEKKA TIMONEN’S office or in the city’s facilities.

“It was a rough nomadic beginning. At first everyone had to do everything in order to get the project going.”

The team, formed by Timonen, Gould, development director SANNA-MARI JÄNTTI, controller TIINA-KAISA LAAKSO-LIUKKONEN and producer MARTTA LOUEKARI began by building the organization and recruiting more employees.

The open search for programs began in October last year. In November, the foundation finally got to move to its own office.

2) Awaken enthusiasm

By the early summer of 2011, the foundation had received 1200 proposals. It will accept new ideas until the end of August. Helsinki residents have really embraced the World Design Capital year and the theme Open Helsinki seems to be coming true.

“One of our challenges is to maintain this atmosphere,” Gould admits.

Not all proposals can be included in the official program, let alone given partial financing by the foundation. Producer Martta Louekari processes applications related to architecture and fashion and encourages people to implement their ideas, even if they’re not given the official WDC status.

“We don’t have a specific number in mind, but we can only include a maximum of some 200 programs. Therefore it’s clear that a majority will get a negative answer.”

3) Coordinate the players

The events are only a part of the World Design Capital year. Program director Gould’s job is to plan the event outline for the year and coordinate the activities with the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), cities and companies.

Next year will be all about collecting evidence of how design can be utilized in different ways and how the insights can be communicated in another way besides through boring reports. The year will also include service design and information visualization projects.

“We are not just creating a one-year spectacle, but we’re sowing seeds for the future.”

4) Compile the program

Proposing a program for the World Design Capital year is a different kind of process than, for example, applying for a grant. The program team doesn’t have accepted or rejected stamps to mark on the application forms.

The foundation’s producers go through all of the applications, look for any overlapping and similar operators and then check how well the proposals meet the goals of the year.

“We have to follow the set criteria accurately,” Louekari says.

The dramatic composition is also important. There have to be events at different times of the year and something has to be going on in every city.

At the end of spring, over 400 applicants were informed that their ideas will not be included in the official program. The remaining applications have been gone through even more carefully. There is a constant discussion going on with many of the applicants. The organization has been criticized for being slow with many projects still waiting for the World Design Capital 2012 status as well as financing to be able to proceed.

Gould wants to remind people that the Design Foundation will not fund any of the projects entirely.

The schedule for preparations has not been up to the International Design Foundation. It’s ICSID that provides the frame for the schedule.

Cultural sauna. Image Nene Tsuboi & Tuomas Toivonen.

“The European Capitals of Culture are given five years to prepare, but we will only have two years to implement the project,” Gould says.

5) Implement the project

In addition to the events, next year will bring along new places.

One of the projects accepted in the program is the Cultural Sauna project created by architect TUOMAS TOIVONEN and artist NENE TSUBOI.

Tsuboi has dealt with the sauna theme previously as part of another Cultural Sauna event, while Toivonen has dealt with the theme of creating a city on his Urbanism in the House album. The projects have been a breeding ground for an idea that will be carried out in the form of a public sauna and event space.

The process is under way and the building of the sauna should begin in the fall. The cooperation with the International Design Foundation and WDC organization includes a blog (www.kulttuurisauna.fi). Toivonen and Tsuboi tell on the website how the planning and project is proceeding.

“It’s a project journal, but we also want to discuss our own starting points, influences and the reasons why we undertook this project. Why did I want to take part in creating Helsinki by building a public building?” Toivonen says.

The aim is that the sauna will be heated up for the first time next summer.

“This project combines many of the WDC2012 aims, such as sustainable development, utilization of design in the development of new business as well as openness and improvement of the environment,” Louekari explains. †

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Helsinki was elected World Design Capital 2012 in November 2009. A series of articles in We Are Helsinki will detail Helsinki’s journey towards the design year. www.wdc2012helsinki.fi

Photo Anna Kiuru.

Statistics can also be sexy. Open data produced by the cities within the Helsinki Region will now be available to everybody through an online service that is part of the Helsinki Region Infoshare project launched in March.

Figures and statistics sound dull, but in capable hands they can be turned into fascinating applications providing new insights. Finland wants to be an exemplary open data country and the Helsinki region is showing the way by opening up the statistical data produced by the municipalities of the area.

The shared Helsinki Region Infoshare project by Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, and the municipalities of the Helsinki region mainly publishes statistical data describing living conditions, economics, well-being, employment and transport. Making the data public and available to all is part of the Helsinki World Design Capital 2012 project with the theme of Open Helsinki.

“Open data is a valuable modern resource that doesn’t diminish after being used. The more valuable it becomes, the more it is used,” says Helsinki Region Infoshare project manager VILLE MELONI.

The numerical and statistical data included in the project and online service used to only be available to the management and employees of the municipalities. Now it’s available to everyone for free through the Helsinki Region Infoshare online service.

“Open data makes the public sector more transparent and increases the citizens’ opportunities to influence,” Meloni says. “Another idea is that the opening and utilization of public data will create new services and businesses.”

Allowing the flow of information is the first step. Now the data can also be developed into user-friendly applications for the general public, proving the fact that there is a benefit gained from the versatile information. The Helsinki-based technology company Flo Apps is one of the companies that have created applications using the Helsinki Region Infoshare data.

Visual information

HANS ROSLING, a professor at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, told the New York Times in April that statistical information is now the sexiest subject around. Statistics is not only sexy because of the information itself, but also because of the visualization of the information.

Statistics are no longer boring gray lists, but interactive and visually interesting objects. Some of the gems of data visualization can be found in DAVID MCCANDLESS’s book Information is Beautiful (Collins, 2010) as well as in his interesting blog with the same name.

Hans Rosling, on the other hand, has developed simple ways to present information on different countries. Brightly colored bubbles representing populations together and the animated life expectancy and GDP indicators illustrate how the world’s living standards are getting better. You can also play with the bubbles yourself at gapminder.org.

A smarter city

There will also be more visualization added to the Helsinki Region Infoshare service during the World Design Capital year.

Helsinki will be given professional and technological help with the visualization by IBM. The technology company’s Smarter Cities Challenge is a global three-year project aimed at improving the chosen cities’ performance as well as their citizens’ quality of life. In addition to Helsinki, the Smarter Cities Challenge includes 21 other countries around the world. The data compiled on the Helsinki Region Infoshare pages will be utilized in combining and visualizing the information.

“The most natural way for people to process information is to turn it into pictures. Numbers and texts as such are not the best way to create contexts,” says VILLE PELTOLA, innovation director at IBM Finland. “The aim of the project is to investigate what kind of wisdom is hidden in the flow of information that the city as a system produces.”

Helsinki is the only Nordic city selected for the program, partly based on the World Design Capital year, the Helsinki Region Infoshare project and the bold attitude of the city.

These projects are also supported by the decision made by the Finnish government in March 2011, according to which all public data must be openly available and reusable. With these decisions and projects, Finland will aim to challenge the open data pioneers, the United States and the UK, and to become the next model country of information societies. †

www.hri.fi
www.smartercitieschallenge.org
www.informationisbeautiful.net
www.gapminder.org

Text Ida Kukkapuro Photos Anna Kiuru

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Helsinki was elected World Design Capital 2012 in November 2009. A series of articles in We Are Helsinki will detail Helsinki’s journey towards the design year 2012. www.wdc2012helsinki.fi

Juha Järvinen and Eija Nieminen. Photo Anna Kiuru.

The European Commission’s Design Secretariat, located in Finland, is doing its part to find new ways of thinking to back up design.

”You need design! Take advantage of design!” is a familiar cry in many a field. However, nobody has explained why design is necessary. Why should planters and trams look beautiful, and what difference does it make how many buttons a phone has?

”We’ve certainly talked the talk,” admits EIJA NIEMINEN, the director of Aalto University’s Designium Innovation Centre. ”Now the European Commission has recognized a need to incorporate a more user-centered, market-driven operating model into innovation politics.”

Ideas from the best in Europe

The Commission’s European Design Innovation Initiative (EDII) has a new secretariat, which will be situated in Finland. The secretariat’s operations started at the beginning of January and will last for two years. The secretariat consists of Eija Nieminen and project manager JUHA JÄRVINEN.

Nieminen and Järvinen claim to have won the tightly fought bid because Designium has a proven track record of a decade of transforming design into communal use. Also, Aalto University’s idea of combining art, technology and business inspired the Commission. ”In a way, we are living proof that design has a strong impact on innovation.”

The World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 venture may have also helped, and the secretariat plans on collaborating with the WDC project.

”Our aim is to find out whether we can prove that design and a user-centered approach have increased the competitiveness of companies. We want to prove that everything doesn’t always come down to technology, and that there are different ways of thinking.

To aid the mission, the European Commission will select a leadership board, a council of fifteen leading experts. The board will include representatives from all over Europe and from various fields: design, design support organizations, the public sector, universities and businesses.

”At the secretariat, we prepare things for the leadership board and Commission to address,” Nieminen clarifies. ”The Commission will take the lead, make decisions and bring the politics to the table. The leadership board will advise and make suggestions for practical actions. We support their work by producing documentation and information, and by making our own proposals. In the end, it’s not about our views, but the Commission’s.”

Designing a better life

According to Nieminen and Järvinen, the challenge that the secretariat and the whole initiative faces is to prove the practical significance of design. Design has been evangelized for a long time – Järvinen points out that already 60 or 70 years ago there was talk of how important design is to companies – but because something is still wrong and the significance of design isn’t fully understood, it’s time to find another way.

The whole initiative can be summed up with one word: user-centered. It means that to get the best results, you sometimes have to flip the point of view over, to think about things from a new perspective – from the user’s perspective.

”Being user-centered can mean thinking about what services and products need to become more efficient and interesting, and for them to enrich the lives of their users,” Nieminen clarifies.

According to the secretariat launch press release, the European Commission ”perceives that user-centered and market-driven design are in a central position when tackling challenges associated with climate change, ageing of population and the competitiveness of European countries.”

Although these claims may sound grandiose, Nieminen and Järvinen assure that they’re correct. They use traffic and its significance to the elderly as an example. ”The conservative solution is to come up with a handy vehicle for an elder person and design it. But the other point of view is to think what the needs for mobility are for an elder person, what the distances are – or could we perhaps do something different so that they didn’t even have to traverse in the first place,” Järvinen explains.

Finding new ways of thinking

The point of good design isn’t to make consumers think that they need things they really don’t. However, being user-centered can also mean designing from the standpoint of ”What could be?”

Järvinen has an example: ”Back in the day, a revolution started when someone wondered what it would be like to carry music around with you. How could it be done? The new idea and the spirit of design were there. Only then did they go to the design department and told them to design a cassette player that you could carry with you.”

”That’s what we’re looking for – new ways of thinking. You have to be able to question the familiar solutions.”

According to Nieminen, the first real decisions will be made as soon as the leadership board gathers for the first time in March. There are already plans, but they haven’t been made public yet. However, Nieminen promises that the first results will be announced soon. †

Text Sirje Niitepõld  Photos Anna Kiuru

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Helsinki was elected World Design Capital 2012 in November 2009. A series of articles in We Are Helsinki will detail Helsinki’s journey towards the design year 2012. www.wdc2012helsinki.fi

Kokoro & Moi. Photo Juuso Noronkoski.

The visual look of Helsinki’s World Design Capital year in 2012 will be designed by design consultancy Kokoro & Moi. The message is actionable: the theme of ”Open Helsinki” encourages you to play catch both figuratively and in practice.

The look of the World Design Capital year is round – or spherical, to be precise. Perhaps the most primitive, symbolic and natural of shapes – a circle – represents the globe and allows for an infinite number of variations.

The international WDC venture’s official logo is a circle split into four portions that state the city and the year, such as Turin 2008 or Soul 2010. Every other year, the design olympics move out, and only the logo remains.
ICSID, the international industrial design organization that owns the World Design Capital brand, has some guidelines for typography and layout. Besides these restrictions, design consultancy Kokoro & Moi has created the graphic feel of the Design Capital year based on their own view – Helsinki’s view.

Kokoro & Moi. Kuva Juuso Noronkoski.

The WDC venture breathes and develops, and so does the process of visual design. Because in an open city the citizens are also designers, Kokoro & Moi started to piece the look together through workshops.

Their spoils include around two hundred different versions of a sphere. Spherical variations have been sought from e.g. workshops for children and youth, as well as from the WDC idea day in the spring. They’ve also received unsolicited spherical suggestions.

The next step is to make catching globes more systematic.

”We can set up collection points at every event and venue that the WDC venture is visible at before the actual event year. Our aim is to collect two thousand globes that we can use in a variety of ways,” says Kokoro & Moi Creative Director TEEMU SUVIALA.

The hunt for spheres is a symbolic gesture to get people to catch the common theme. ”We want to step back and really stress openness. Children and students are in the center here, and we want them to join the process.”

Street parties for the people

Kokoro & Moi were involved already when the greater Helsinki region put in their bid for WDC 2012. They were asked to make the application so visually stunning that it would win. Themes were crystallized in cooperation with consults and universities alike, because the visual implementation had to support the story from the get-go.

”The year’s strategy is crystallized into three themes. The first one is an open city, the second is global responsibility and the third one is growth,” Suviala lists.

Openness is also part of the process, which is allowed to change. And the process doesn’t even have to be ready before 2012, in fact quite the contrary.

”The most important thing is that nothing just falls from top to bottom. The look and the whole year should manifest as action and real things. 2012 isn’t just a celebration of past accomplishments, but more of a catalyst that creates new common starting points for openness and participation within the city,” defines Suviala.

The concept of global responsibility encompasses material accountability and sustainable development as well as future generations, who have to be allowed to step up already. Growth refers to not only financial growth, but social capital and cultural development as well.

”Instead of banners, we want to find a visual representation of how we could make the city better,” Suviala clarifies.

According to Suviala, one of the most interesting events based on new design ideology has been Punajuuri Block Party. This street-long open party in the Punavuori district was organized by a group of friends with a minimal budget. Similar activity should be encouraged with widespread incentives.

”It’s important to create a state of knowledge and will to create new things in the city.”

Text Simo Vassinen Photos Juuso Noronkoski

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Cloth, culture, city

Kokoro & Moi is an advocate of openness and participation in their other work as well. In 2008, the Hardcore exhibition promoted Finnish design in New York. Kokoro & Moi together with Vallila Interior created a project called BonBonKakku.com. Users could upload their own textile patterns onto a website, and the most popular designs were produced and made available for purchase online.

Designer duo Teemu Suviala and ANTTI HINKULA burst on the scene as Syrup Helsinki. When the time came to make a decision between a larger chain while moving abroad and independent work in Finland, Kokoro & Moi was created in Helsinki.

In addition to building brands for multi-national companies, illustrating magazines and working in design and fashion projects, the agency has their foot in the door of cultural institutions. Their past clients include Amos Anderson Art Museum, The Finnish National Theater and Kunsthalle Helsinki.

You don’t have to wait until 2012 to see Kokoro & Moi in the Helsinki cityscape. The new look of Helsinki Region Transport is visible every day while waiting for the bus, tram or metro. †

Text Simo Vassinen Photos Juuso Noronkoski

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Helsinki was elected World Design Capital 2012 in November 2009. A series of articles in We Are Helsinki will detail Helsinki’s journey towards the design year 2012. www.wdc2012helsinki.fi

Photo Tanja Korvenmaa.

Hub Helsinki kicked off last year. Hub Helsinki organized a World Design Capital 2012 brainstorming day in Helsinki at the end of May. During Helsinki Design Week, it is exploring urban gardens and communal construction. What Hub Helsinki?

The operating models of businesses in creative fields have renewed and continue to do so very rapidly. People are working on their own in a variety of networks. It’s easy to pick the correct people with the right kind of expertise for the project or venture at hand.

This wide-spreading operating model is the basis for Hub Helsinki, who are developing urban culture in all of its forms. Part of an international network of hubs, the cooperative consists of individual experts of various fields working separately. They’re brought together by a common interest in developing the city and applying new operating models.

The Hub movement was started in London in 2005, and hubs have been popping up for the last couple of years. There are hubs at least in Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Helsinki, Tampere, Jyväskylä, Stockholm, Riga, Berlin, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Hub Helsinki was founded in 2009.

Currently Hub Helsinki has over 200 active members. Their facebook group includes almost 700 people interested and even partaking in their activities. All in all, there are over 5 500 hubbers worldwide.

Across boundaries

“What makes Hub special is that it has no boundaries,” says Hub Helsinki CEO ANNE RAUDASKOSKI. “The whole Hub model is based on the idea of representing as many professional fields as possible. Brainstorming and innovating are easiest done in a group with maximal diversity. Hubbers are connected by an interest in communal issues and innovations.”

“Young people are very receptive to a new culture based on open communality, but we’re looking to gather senior citizens as well. The optimal scenario would have people with time and experience doing a project with younger people,” Raudaskoski hints.

“The operational model of a Hub depends on the city it’s in. In Tampere, the Hub is offering working space, while in Helsinki we facilitate various projects,” continues SAMI OINONEN, the chairman of the Hub Helsinki board.

Hub Helsinki is partnering among others with Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund. Projects are also implemented in collaboration with citizen organizations such as Dodo or Anna hyvän kiertää (‘Pay it forward’), who are focusing on children’s well-being.

Hub Helsinki is also offering working space at their facilities on Aleksanterinkatu. “The spaces are open to anyone regardless of where they’re from,” Oinonen states.

Communal entrepreneurship

In addition to the WDC 2012 brainstorming day in May, Hub Helsinki has organized multiple workshops on various topics. The Hub has been used for everything from guerrilla marketing for Call a Granny Day to social media training and developing commutational biking.

During Helsinki Design Week, Hub Helsinki is organizing the Windowfarms Finland Workshop, developing, yes, window farms, as well as the Urban Cohousing Workshop, which will continue with the unofficial Unsauna conference in the Arla sauna. In addition to these, the Hub premises will see an exhibition called The 3 Inch Canvas for Art, which is putting art onto mobile phone screens.

“Basically anyone can bring an issue or a problem to the Hub for solving,” Raudaskoski says. “The only criteria is that it should have a social or communal aspect.”

Hub activity is thematically connected with communal entrepreneurship, which aims to make changes in society through fast action. As a cooperative, the Hub’s business model is simple. People buy memberships and networking packages, and membership fee-like payments grant you access to Hub Helsinki’s events. Organizing events and running projects also bring in revenue.

“We’re operating in the cross-section of the public, private and third sectors. We organize a lot of events and coordinate transitional projects,” Sami Oinonen says.

“Different parties, like Sitra, the World Design Capital 2012 organization or the ministries might have a problem that they want solved. The Hub can take responsibility for seeing the project through,” he explains. “The Ministry of the Environment may want to find out how the production and distribution of local food in nearby cities should be organized. In this case, we’d gather a wide group of people of varying expertise and think of a solution.”

So far, the projects have been local, but international collaboration between thematically and geographically close Hubs is possible.

“A common theme with Stockholm would be food. And if you’re thinking of means of developing Helsinki’s cycling possibilities, you should contact Amsterdam’s Hub, who are bound to have a lot of information and experience in urban biking.” †

Hub Helsinki, Aleksanterinkatu 16−18, Helsinki. www.hubhelsinki.fi

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Text Heini Lehtinen Photo Tanja Korvenmaa

Photo Lahti University of Applied Science / Hub Helsinki.

”Get rid of the lawn, put flatland and some objects there, and there should be another pool in the park.” Along with new skate parks, Helsinki’s citizens wish for art streets, meeting places and opening homes for travellers.

In May, the City of Helsinki and Hub Helsinki organized a brainstorming day for citizens. The aim of the day was to collect citizens’ thoughts and ideas for developing the city. Throughout the day over a hundred discussion and brainstorming events were held in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen and Lahti.

“In every city, the basic concept was to have small events as well as idea patrols polling the people throughout the day and asking for their ideas to help develop the city,” says SAMI OINONEN of Hub Helsinki.

Over 2 000 idea cards were filled at events and on the streets. In addition to that, people had the chance to leave their suggestions on the World Design Capital 2012 website until the end of May. Ideas came in from all kinds of people from skater boys to young families to elders. At skate parks, the youngsters not only wrote down their suggestions, they also included schematics and shapes of the ramps and pools they wished for.

“We got thousands of ideas. The vast amount tells us that citizens want to take part in the brainstorming. People didn’t have a problem with sharing their ideas on the streets as the patrols approached them, either,” Oinonen recalls.

“In events like this, there is usually a standard quota, about one percent, of significant ideas that the city hasn’t already thought of before. This tip of the iceberg has certain themes and areas that we can assign a responsible party to. So out of 3 000 ideas we’ll get about 30 very good ones.”

Doors into the city and its homes

Hub Helsinki, which consists of professionals of various fields, divided the ideas into eight themes. The report was handed to the city, and an English version to ICSID, the organization behind the World Design Capital venture.

Cleanliness and the optimization of waste management were among the most themes that produced the most ideas, perhaps the best of which was adding waste bag vending machines into parks. Another top theme was making the city more welcoming by improving facades and park routes.

“Accentuating the local traits and identities of different districts was a broad theme. How do you accentuate a local trait? Käpylä has a strong identity, but how do you create a similar feel of connectedness in other districts?” Oinonen asks. “Another strong concept was everyday design. People want to have the chance to leave their own mark into the cityscape. One brilliant idea was making Fredrikinkatu into an art street for citizens.”

“Many people also pointed out that design is for everyone, and that the people should have the chance to partake in ‘home sherpa’ activities, opening up their homes for travellers. With this kind of activity, we can offer travellers a whole new perspective into Finnish life.”

One of the most interesting themes deals with bringing together citizens across age or nationality barriers. “Citizens want diverse gatherings, events, random meeting places and networks, theme parks for children and adults. How could old people’s homes and kindergartens be more in touch with each other?” Oinonen ponders. “Many expatriates stay within their communities while Finns stick to theirs. How could we further internationality and communication?”

Making ideas come true

It would be easy to fall into cynicism and think that while ideas have been collected, nothing actual is going to happen. However, Oinonen feels that the ideas are meant to be realized.

“The point of dividing the ideas into themes is that that way they’re easy to appoint to someone. Suggestions don’t come to life if someone doesn’t step up and take responsibility,” he says. “For example, the idea of a string of skate parks could be discussed with the Youth Department and kids. Ideas and services can even help start new companies.”

“It’s important that some of these ideas get done already this year. Some pilot campaigns could take place during Helsinki Design Week at the end of August, and new services have to be launched in 2011. When the design capital year 2012 rolls around, we can offer citizens a compound of new events and services. After that, the process will continue in different forms on many fronts.” †

Text Heini Lehtinen

Helsinki was elected World Design Capital 2012 in November 2009. A series of articles in We Are Helsinki will detail Helsinki’s journey towards the design year 2012. www.wdc2012helsinki.fi

]]> http://www.wearehelsinki.fi/idea-of-a-city/feed/ 1 http://www.wearehelsinki.fi/no-talk-just-design/ http://www.wearehelsinki.fi/no-talk-just-design/#comments Wed, 28 Apr 2010 09:45:18 +0000 heini http://www.wearehelsinki.fi/?p=150

Bryan Boyer. Photo Kaarle Hurtig.

Helsinki’s strategy for its year as World Design Capital could include a battle against zero-content terminology, says Helsinki-based designer-architect Bryan Boyer.

The words strategy, innovation and design are somewhat like global warming: concepts nullified by over-exposition, desensitizing the masses before they can even begin to glimpse at what’s behind the moniker. The Aalto University, national branding committee, the World Expo in Shanghai – and now Helsinki’s World Design Capital year in 2012 – are all touting both strategic innovation and innovative strategies. Design is everything – and for everyone. Can you keep up?

The challenge of any great project is to transform terminology into action and hope that people will notice and remember the actions rather than the words.

The Design Capital strategy for the greater metropolitan area will take form throughout the spring, and hopefully come summer we’ll see some inspiring glimpses of 2012. This summer will also mark the end of Aalto University’s first year, the report of Finland’s national brand committee will be released, and Shanghai’s Expo 2010 will be in full force. Milestones abound.

Helsinki’s design strategy has divided the different disciplines into six blocks: architecture, urban planning, interior design, sustainable design, industrial design and communications design.The division is supposed to get rid of the stereotype of design as elitist culture and products, which doesn’t portray the full range of design. Instead of individual objects, it’s more contemporary and important to imagine what an Aalto vase would be like as a service for the elderly – or what kind of immigration center would win the Red Dot design award?

Bryan Boyer. Photo Kaarle Hurtig.

From strategy to action

The dictionary definition of strategy is “the art of devising or employing plans toward a goal”. The best kind of strategy is one aiming towards direct action to win the war, as Sun Tzu said in his ancient classic The Art of War. The worst is one where you’re constantly planning what to plan next.

Designer-architect BRYAN BOYER, originally from California but now settled into Helsinki, is puzzled by the misuse of terminology. “Strategy often gets mixed up with planning. To be strategic, you have to also make difficult decisions and produce results,” ponders the Harvard graduate, who has been working on Sitra’s Helsinki Design Lab project since the fall of 2008.

Helsinki’s design strategy will face the ultimate test in 2012, when it should be evident to every citizen. “I’ve noticed that in Finland people feel like they need to promote things very actively. But when you start to do things – and do them well – the promotion will take care of itself,” Boyer phrases.

As an example, he reminds us of the renaissance of Helsinki’s dining culture a couple of years ago. Back then it was about making things happen – the buzz came afterwards. When the Eurovision song contest was held in Helsinki, people came up with a Eurovision-themed aerobics class in the park, a themed karaoke night and even a street masquerade. There was no talk about a Eurovision strategy, but there was an unspoken strategy, the city, the companies, YLE, citizens and tourists all saw that the most important thing was to go ahead, do and experience.

Time to experiment

Boyer says that Helsinki’s design is at its most interesting where people don’t speak of design. “In bathrooms and kitchens you remember that you’re in Finland, even if you’re at the finest design hotel. I wish that kind of honesty was more prevalent. For example, a dish drying cupboard is some of the greatest design I know,” Boyer says.

Boyer has found other urban favorites in the small red Café Regatta in Taivallahti and the villa cafe in Linnunlaulu, where cinnamon rolls and coffee are served without much fuss about design.

“Helsinki’s Design Capital year could be a year of experimentation. What if you made Uudenmaankatu into a pedestrianstreet, even just for a while? Or how about we see what happens if you give tax relief to all new cafe owners under 30,” Boyer suggests.

Boyer is fascinated by the tension between the coarse and the defined. “It’s cool how the urbanity ends so abruptly outside of the city center. I started to love Helsinki once I finally got to know people in their own homes,” Boyer describes his Helsinki.

One clear goal – and a positive challenge – in Helsinki’s innovative Design Capital strategy is to convey a people-first type of enthusiasm into doing and experiencing things together. Perhaps even without even mentioning the terms strategy, innovation and design. †

www.helsinkidesignlab.org

Text Simo Vassinen Photos Kaarle Hurtig Translation Jyri Paavilainen

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Helsinki was elected World Design Capital 2012 in November 2009. A series of articles in We Are Helsinki will detail Helsinki’s journey towards the design year 2012. www.wdc2012helsinki.fi

Dodo.org. Kuva Sasa Tkalcan.

The theme for the Design Capital project makes you think about the use of public space, elitism in the creative field and doing things together like in the good old days.

The theme for Helsinki’s World Design Capital year in 2012 is Open Helsinki. The city space is open for everyone, and anybody can make him or herself a designer for a year. Yay! I can finally realize my installation “My May Day at the Parliament House” and “Esplanade Park in Orange” and continue my career as a graffiti artist also in broad daylight! Or can I?

“Open Helsinki means that we actually live what we teach in the application for World Design Capital. Taking being open seriously, telling everyone what it means to be the design capital and how small and big actions create a real capital without centralized direction,” phrases City of Helsinki cultural director PEKKA TIMONEN.

Dodo.org. Kuva Sasa Tkalcan.

When Helsinki was elected in Singapore last November, Mayor JUSSI PAJUNEN invited “every citizen, business and organization in Helsinki as well as visiting design professionals and enthusiasts to join the preparations and events for 2012.”

Challenging definition

So far, the actual meaning of the invitation is a bit blurry. If I decide to thank Pajunen for the invitation and accept it, where do I sign up? Will there be a reservation service on Helsinki’s website for free-to-use spaces in 2012? Will the city pay for water, port-a-potties and wi-fi if I decide to host an exhibition, club or outdoor installation? Can I pick up empty invitations from the Market Square’s Helsinki info and upload my own press release onto the Cultural Office website?

Design, by definition, adds something to everyday things – usability, form, flare. Can you set exceptions to rules when you are spending the whole year celebrating design? Can I legally spread event posters all over electrical boxes, tram stops and walls? What if I declare that what I’m posting is hand-made design, photo art, service design or graphic design? Who gets to say what design is in 2012?

The City of Helsinki is facing a huge challenge, but also an opportunity. It’s hard to draw the line when you send an open invitation to decorate the city but at the same time want to keep the city space clean and pleasant for all citizens. Pajunen recognizes the task at hand.

“It’s a huge challenge for us to make the city of Helsinki, as well as the other cities in the project, better through design both socially and culturally as well as financially,” he says.

Dodo.org. Kuva Sasa Tkalcan.

From necessity to diversity

However, the possibilities are greater than the challenges. Small experiments can become mainstream if the city encourages individuals to act and build their own experience of a public city space. Environmental organization Dodo decided to take over a patch of land by Pasila railway station and started a renegade vegetable garden. Maintenance men and other neighbors looked at them funny for a while, but in the end the young gardeners got good tips about unused frames and buckets.

Pumpkins, Jerusalem artichokes and carrots ripened through the summer, and in the fall Dodo set up a long table next to the tracks for a harvest party. Again without asking permission. People used the city like they wanted to, and nobody really had anything bad to say about the in every way successful project.

Examples of functioning communities can also be found abroad. In 2014, the European Capital of Culture will be Umeå, located in Northern Sweden. The people there have for long been able to take part in planning their hometown’s services and culture. In practice this has allowed 400 students to compose a libretto in a blog-based system and the city library’s services to be shared and developed with the citizens of surrounding communities. The same politics of openness will soon shape Finland’s capital.

“Loose structures and social relations are key for a design capital. It’s also the only way to weave ourselves and others into the mix. After all, we are the whole world’s design capital,” Timonen ponders the scale of openness.

Open Helsinki is also our Helsinki. The city is open when people build entertainment, services and aesthetic experiences for themselves, starting with their own needs and realized to their own liking. That’s when the basic message of design will be relayed also to non-designers.

Text Simo Vassinen Photos Sasa Tkalcan Translation Jyri Paavilainen

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Helsinki was elected World Design Capital 2012 in November 2009. A series of articles in We Are Helsinki will detail Helsinki’s journey towards the design year 2012. www.wdc2012helsinki.fi

Kiasma Museum of Modern Art.

Design is everything that combines usability, form and idea.

A tour in Helsinki is easy on the eyes and food for thought for a design-oriented citizen. The glowing orange of a subway car, the stairs of the Cathedral, the cobblestones in the city centre and the vizor kiosks of Kallio district. Still, we don’t always remember to appreciate design in its wider meaning. It’s worth taking a look at not only the traditional places a tourist guides tells us to look, but elsewhere as well.

The sorting center of a post office, digital schedule screens at bus stops and kitchens’ drying cabinets are carefully considered insights of everyday design. It isn’t just simple aesthetics and little perks, it’s also everything that makes everyday life easier and refreshing. Usability, looks and usefulness – or hopefully something combining all of these.

The true legends of Finnish design were born after World War II into a society that neither threw anything away nor yearned for anything over-the-top. KAJ FRANCK, TIMO SARPANEVA and TAPIO WIRKKALA shaped a nation’s identity out of wood, metal, glass and porcelain. Even today, a glass that fits in your hand and works is an everyday luxury item. Something simple and ingenious can also be beautiful.

In addition to our successful heritage of architecture, glass industry and furniture design, people on many other fields are succeeding in combining usability, playfulness and aesthetics. This hasn’t gone unnoticed: some time ago fashion bible Vogue Italia had a fashion shoot amidst playground equipment designed by Rovaniemi-based company Lappset.

Accessibility and aesthetics

Design manager LAURA SARVILINNA has worked with top names of Finnish design in Finland and abroad. She thinks it’s important that design is seen as a vital part of all planning from products to services.

”Urban planning is probably the most advanced field of social design. On the other hand, service design benefits geriatric care, food service and planning of public spaces. It’s about what types of services you produce, what kinds of chains you have and what kinds of software and equipment you use. Accessibility is key,” she says.

”Design doesn’t have to interest everyone, but over here generations of people have grown up with good design and planning. The word design is often only attached to Alvar Aalto’s famous vase.”

Exporting Finnish design is a good way to promote the broader definition of the word. Last May’s New York Meatpacking District Design Week saw an exhibition called Playful: New Finnish Design. The exhibition presented a cross-section of everyday and festive life. As always, new architecture, lighting fixtures and graphic design were shown in Manhattan. Side by side stood also a cordless charging table (featuring a mobile, no less), an educational digital game for children and a partition wall made of metal. Next to a group of Marimekko parasols was also a Molok, a bubble-shaped garbage container familiar to Helsinki’s park-goers. Usable, thought-through and aesthetical.

Church, school and home

Helsinki’s election as World Design Capital 2012 has already inspired many unusual parties to hop aboard the design train. Kirkko & Kaupunki (Church & the City in English), the newspaper of the Parish Union of Helsinki, had an editorial about ecclesiastical design. The University Group of Lapland has pushed for wider understanding of design in its education. A project called Design for All promotes diversified service design processes for different groups in our society, from disabled people to the elderly to cultural minorities.

Design is more than just a pretty surface – it’s a way to face challenges, be they products, processes or services. Design is already nesting in every nook of the society. Year 2012 is just bringing it to daylight in all of its forms. At its best, a design capital can be a village-like community in which products, spaces and services all have a meaning, a story and a function. Whatever we design can be designed in the best way possible. The Aalto vase is a great example of design that reaches everybody in the society. What else do we want to touch and feel? †

Text Simo Vassinen Photo Image bank of the City of Helsinki / Comma Image
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Helsinki was elected World Design Capital 2012 in November 2009. A series of articles in We Are Helsinki will detail Helsinki’s journey towards the design year 2012. www.wdc2012helsinki.fi