WDC and the City of Helsinki have promised to hold a great party when the traditional New Year’s party at Senate Square becomes the World Design Capital’s opening ceremony.
Text Petra Vuolanen
Illustration Jee Hei
The prototypes selected for the exhibition range from small items such as textiles and larger spatial elements.
Text Petra Vuolanen
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Protoshop / Exhibition
14–18 September 2011
Habitare Fair, Helsinki Exhibition & Convention Centre, Helsinki
The story of the urban clothing label Makia Clothing is reflected in their clothes. Success requires a lot of hard work, a healthy business philosophy and a relaxed work environment. It’s also cool to look good.
Text Ville Matilainen
Photos Niklas Sandström
Recently a group of Guggenheim Museum staff from New York visited Helsinki. They were wondering why the internationally renowned design city doesn’t have up-to-date and appropriate spaces for displaying design. Exactly. Maybe it’s a “shoemaker’s children have no shoes” phenomenon.
Text Aila Svenskberg
Photo Juuso Noronkoski
Helsinki will be the World Design Capital for 2012. In order to make Finland visible before the World Design Capital year, the city and Finnish design are already being displayed abroad.
Text Ida Kukkapuro
Photos Bernhard Ludewig, Perttu Saksa
Workspaces are joining forces in Helsinki. The Mushrooming network is expected to bear all kinds fruits of cooperation – or should we say mushrooms.
Text Ida Kukkapuro
Photos Veikko Kähkönen
The European Commission’s Design Secretariat, located in Finland, is doing its part to find new ways of thinking to back up design.
Text Sirje Niitepõld
Photos Anna Kiuru
Consisting of designers and fine carpenters, the Woodism group produces wooden products made from trees felled in parks and private yards that would’ve otherwise ended up chopped or dumped.
Text Heini Lehtinen
A yellow building at the corner of Senate Square is uncovering after a renovation. In a year, it will be the epicenter of Helsinki’s World Design Capital year.
Text Heini Lehtinen
Photos Juuso Noronkoski
Design agency COMPANY is known for playful and humoristic products and projects such as their toadstool stool and apparel-come-furniture.
Text Heini Lehtinen
Finnish designers could lead the way to more design-oriented Christmas. What would new Finnish Christmas approach look like?
Text Anni Puolakka & Jenna Sutela
Illustration Santtu Mustonen
For a long time, Finns have been said to share with the Japanese an affection with simple shapes and basic colors. Scandinavian design has been popular in Japan for over a decade, and its popularity doesn’t seem to be fading. The Hirameki project, set for launch in Tokyo in October, aims to keep it that way.
Text Heini Lehtinen
Photos Anders Westerholm
Skanno kicked off the new decade by launching a concept store, designed by Anna Katriina Tilli, in downtown Helsinki. At the same time, the company is heading into the international furniture market with their own collection.
Text Heini Lehtinen
Photos Juuso Noronkoski
By Kivi Sotamaa
Just like the electric guitar and Jimi Hendrix created a new psychedelic sound in the 1960s, computers and the manufacturing robots they control are now enabling the discovery of new forms of expression in architecture and design for the third millennium.
Photos Juuso Noronkoski
In London’s temporary restaurant Hel Yes! you can enjoy traditional Finnish food from a recycled plate beneath trembling aspens from 16 September–3 October 2010.
Text Ville Aalto
Illustration Klaus Haapaniemi
Photos Adam Laycock
The terms ‘design’ or ‘the world of design’ bring us anguish, but it’s hard to see a way out besides creating your own sphere within the terms. What is it about design that makes us sick?
Text Anni Puolakka & Jenna Sutela
Illustration Rami Niemi
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.
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.
20 images and 20 seconds to talk about each image, that’s a total of six minutes and forty seconds to talk about a topic. What would you talk about?
PechaKuchaNight (theater) 28 August 2010, The Korjaamo Culture Factory.
PechaKuchaNight (design) 2 September 2010, The Cable Factory.
Protoshop brings designers and companies together. The exhibition will display furniture prototypes and other items by designers working in Finland.
Protoshop at the Ahead! area of the Habitare Fair, 1–5 September 2010.
Chinese architect Zhang Ke represents a new and emerging generation of Chinese architects. He will also give a lecture at the Cable Factory at Helsinki Design Week.
Zhang Ke at the Cable Factory, 1 September 2010.
Helsinki Design Week brings together twelve Helsinki designers and artists and their creations to form the Windows Installations project to shop windows around the city centre.
Windows Installations on 27 August–5 September 2010.
It is a major challenge for designers to keep up with the trends. This challenge is met by the global material library, Material ConneXion, a source of inspiration and innovative materials for designers.
Material ConneXion at the Ahead! area of the Habitare Fair, 1–5 September 2010.
The End of Story: Future event gathers together young artists of the future who are not part of the established structures just yet.
The End of Story: Future at The Cable Factory on 3 September 2010
What do Helsinkians want for their city? “A trash bag vending machine for dog poo. ” “Free soda, and more soda machines.” “Designer bird houses in parks, so you could hear birds singing in the winter.”
Text Heini Lehtinen
Light snow 
20X0 – A Journey into the Future
8. October 2011
Heureka – The Finnish Science Centre
Seven Connections – Finnish Architecture Abroad
11. January 2012
Museum of Finnish Architecture
Yellow City – Illustrated Stories from Helsinki
16. January 2012
All around the city
20. January 2012
Kiasma – Museum of Contemporary Art
DesignWorld – Designing the New World
27. January 2012
Design Museum
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