Illustration Klaus Haapaniemi.
In London’s temporary restaurant Hel Yes! you can enjoy traditional Finnish food from a recycled plate beneath trembling aspens.
Pop-up restaurants, diners appearing for a brief moment in surprising places, are one of the hottest recent trends in the food world. This fall Londoners can experience a totally new type of pop-up restaurant thanks to a team of Finns. Hel Yes! is part of London Design Festival, and for a fortnight it will offer not only culinary treats but also top design – and something totally new springing from the union of design and food in completely new circumstances.
“Hel Yes! is a visually strong venture combining hospitability and mystique, blending new and old,” describes HANNA HARRIS, the programme director for arts and culture at the Finnish Institute in London.
The project started from Harris’ discussions with chef ANTTO MELASNIEMI, known for his restaurants Kuurna and Ateljé Finne.
“London is one of the capitals of design, and it’s important that things presented here have a strong new idea or social aspect. At the Institute, we thought about a venture that would let us combine different aspects of design in a way that would work in London. Antto, the conceptual lead and restauranter, had previously visioned pop-up restaurants focusing heavily on design,” Harris says.
Photo Adam Laycock.
Recycling stories
Melasniemi used to work in the esteemed gastropub Cat & Mutton, so he knows London well. He managed to recruit two other Finnish Londoners, graphic designer MIA WALLENIUS and illustrator KLAUS HAAPANIEMI, into the creative group.
The rest of the group is made up of respected professionals. LINDA BERGROTH will handle the interior design, HEIKKI SALONEN is in charge of the waiters’ clothing, HARRI KOSKINEN will design the lighting and glasses and MARIA DUNCKER will create video art.
Recycling is very much present in the Hel Yes! concept. The restaurant’s tent-like tables have been made from trembling aspens that Bergroth salvaged from being chopped up in Fiskars. The plates have been donated in an event in which people could give away their old Arabia and Iittala diningware in exchange for dinner. Many of the dishes came with a story from their previous owners.
The seating choice for the restaurant is ALVAR AALTO’s lesser-known classic 403, which will get a new pattern especially for Hel Yes!. Hanna Harris sees a nice parallel in the chair selection, especially regarding the restaurant’s location.
“Artek, who manufactured the chair, are celebrating their 75th anniversary, and one of their first ever presentations was held in London’s Fortnum & Mason department store.”
Menu stemming from a whole
British journalists got a taste of Hel Yes! earlier this year when they were flown into Finland to take a closer look at the project.
Photo Adam Laycock.
“We took a group of reporters for a cup of coffee at the Hakaniemi marketplace, and then to the market hall to buy groceries. As we walked past a slope, one of the reporters noticed some nettles and pulled Antto’s sleeve. Soon they were collecting recently sprung nettles together, and we got to eat them as a part of the meal Antto prepared that same night,” Harris recalls.
Of the restaurant’s ingredients, game, mushrooms and berries will be imported from Finland. Melasniemi reveals that he has researched traditional Finnish foods for Hel Yes!. However, the actual menu is yet to be finalized.
“For me, a menu in and of itself isn’t an interesting enough starting point for a pop-up restaurant. I’m focusing mainly on mastering the concept. The menu will come naturally along with the planning,” Melasniemi states.
In recent years, Melasniemi has put together several events combining food and design, e.g. for Artek, Nokia and Flow Festival.
“I’m interested in restaurants as a whole, not simply about the food. Design is a key tool in this.”
When the aspen tables and 403 chairs go back into storage after October 3, an experiential project will come to an end. However, the work on Finnish design in London will continue.
“We’re working with design all the time, and the process currently in motion will continue at least until Helsinki’s World Design Capital year 2012,” Harris says.
Hel Yes! might also get a continuation in some form.
“More pop-up restaurants are definitely incoming,” Melasniemi promises. †
Hel Yes! during London Design Festival 16.9.–3.10.2010. www.helyes.fi
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Text Ville Aalto Illustration Klaus Haapaniemi Photos Adam Laycock
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