Hanging in a Laboratory

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

Text Taru Torikka
Photos Martin Parr: Think of Finland

Towards WDC 2012: Change begins now

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

Jussi Pajunen: On the threshold of the design year

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.

World Design Weeks: Through thick and thin

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

Old Customs Warehouse: Sleeping beauty woken up

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

World Design Capital 2012: Design and beyond

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.

World Design Capital 2012: wdchelsinki2012.fi

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

OpenHouseHelsinki: The dream of curious souls

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

A Makia man

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

More (city) space for design

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

Towards WDC 2012: Attention world!

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

Towards WDC 2012: 1–2–3 of a World Design Capital

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.

Text Ida Kukkapuro
Images Tuomas Toivonen & Nene Tsuboi

At the face of the food strategy

Organic food for kids, farming in the city, great parties, pop-up restaurants and new food stores. Food strategy of the City of Helsinki seems to be all that is up-to-date in food.

Text Ida Kukkapuro
Photos Sanna Lehto

Towards WDC 2012: Information for all

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.

Text Ida Kukkapuro
Photo Anna Kiuru

Towards WDC 2012: Design matters

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

Towards WDC 2012: The neural center

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

Towards WDC 2012: Global variations

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.

Text Simo Vassinen
Photos Juuso Noronkoski

Tokyo story

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

Popping up in London

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

Towards WDC 2012: A piece of a new world

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?

Text Heini Lehtinen
Photos Tanja Korvenmaa

By OK Do: Design disease

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

Helsinki’s year out

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.

This time OK is just not good enough

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.

World Capital of Design

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.

WDC 2012: A city of emerging design

Being selected as the World Design Capital is not a reward for past actions but a recognition of a promising, internationally interesting design city.