{"id":150920,"date":"2025-09-18T00:44:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T00:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/150920\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T00:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T00:44:11","slug":"five-ideas-that-marked-20-years-of-helsinki-design-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/150920\/","title":{"rendered":"Five ideas that marked 20 years of Helsinki Design Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the heels of the 20th anniversary edition of Helsinki Design Week<\/a>, Dezeen reporter Jane Englefield rounds up<\/a> five enduring Finnish design<\/a> principles she spotted at the city’s biggest industry festival.<\/p>\n

Helsinki Design Week 2025<\/a> took place from 5 to 14 September in various locations across Finland’s capital. This year marked two decades of the event, offering a glimpse into the local design scene.<\/p>\n

Finnish design is traditionally recognised for its utilitarianism and close relationship to nature. Here are five ways that architects and designers are continuing to channel time-honoured principles like these for a contemporary audience:<\/p>\n

\"JKMMPhoto courtesy of JKMM Architects<\/p>\n

Democratic design<\/p>\n

This year’s festival marked the conclusion of an 18-month international competition to design Finland’s much-anticipated<\/a> new waterfront Museum of Architecture and Design, set to open in 2030.<\/p>\n

During a press conference, it was revealed that local studio JKKM Architects<\/a> won the open, anonymous contest with its proposal for a recycled brick-clad museum<\/a>, aimed at “democratising the tools of design”.<\/p>\n

This focus on access for all was echoed at Aalto University<\/a>, where a group of designers and chemists joined forces to create a “cookbook” called Marvellous Materials<\/a>, encouraging kids to raid their kitchen cupboards and compost bins for natural waste materials. These are then used to make “recipes” ranging from biodegradable glitter to orange-peel playdough, in an effort to teach sustainability from a young age.<\/p>\n

“The researchers got together and thought, hold on, if we really want to change the world and make sustainability innate for people to really understand it, then what we have to do is work together to make a kids’ book,” explained Sarah Hudson<\/a> of Aalto University, where Marvellous Materials is on display as part of the university’s annual collaborative exhibition Designs for a Cooler Planet<\/a> until 28 October.<\/p>\n

\"NaturalPhoto by Esa Kapila<\/p>\n

Proximity to nature\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finns are known for their connection to nature, with the average citizen said to live only 700 metres away from a forest<\/a>. This celebration of the great outdoors is found throughout the Designs for a Cooler Planet exhibition, showcasing natural alternatives to carbon-intensive materials.<\/p>\n

Among the projects on show is a protein-based adhesive<\/a> that works underwater. Informed by the way mussels and barnacles attach themselves to rocks, the team combined DNA fragments from both sea creatures and cloned them into bacteria. These then produced protein molecules acting as a natural glue, which the team hopes might one day be used to repair coral reefs or heal human tissue injuries.<\/p>\n

Another group of Aalto University researchers showcased building blocks<\/a> made from 3D-printed yeast biomass. True to a country with almost 80 per cent<\/a> of its landmass covered by trees, the exhibition also features timber-centric projects, including a wood-based biofoam called Woamy<\/a> and a cellulose pregnancy test by student Deborah Kumagai<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wood appeared on a larger scale at the Habitare<\/a> furniture fair, where Finnish-Italian architecture studio Collaboratorio<\/a> designed a monumental pavilion based on the theme of “touch”.<\/p>\n

The installation was anchored by elm tree stumps removed during extension works at the National Museum of Finland<\/a>, which is currently closed for renovation. Flooring, meanwhile, was made from a mix of fresh Finnish lichen and fragments of reclaimed Carrara marble salvaged from Arkkitehdit NRT’s recent renovation<\/a> of Helsinki’s beloved Finlandia Hall.<\/p>\n

\"HelsinkiPhoto by Justus Hirvi<\/p>\n

Happiness by design<\/p>\n

This year’s main exhibition, Designing Happiness, unpacked the role of architecture and design in individual and collective wellbeing through an encyclopaedic arrangement of objects.<\/p>\n

“Much has been said about the happiness of Nordic countries, but can happiness actually be designed?” asked curator Anniina Koivu<\/a>, whose year-long research spanned diverse contemporary and historical products and services in the fields of health, town planning, fashion and more.<\/p>\n

The objects on display ranged from a “welcoming” Alvar Aalto<\/a>-designed door handle that “every Finn has touched somewhere” to a waterproof children’s suit by sportswear brand Rukka<\/a> and a group of 1963 Ball Chairs<\/a> by Eero Aarnio<\/a>, arranged to allow visitors to listen to music together. At the end of the show, people were offered a sweet from a pick-n-mix bowl if they needed a “quick fix” of happiness.<\/p>\n

Helsinki Design Week<\/a> founder Kari Korkman emphasised how architects and designers strive to better our lives on the opening night of the festival, asking his audience to consider the question: “Have you ever met a pessimistic designer?”<\/p>\n

\"SaunaPhoto courtesy of Habitare<\/p>\n

Emphasis on craft<\/p>\n

This year’s Helsinki Design Week saw the return of the event’s Open Studios<\/a> series, where established and emerging designers have the opportunity to open up their workshops and reveal the craft required to bring their designs to life. Among the participants was Minestrone Workshop<\/a>, a one-year-old “contemporary wood workshop” whose members aim to continue the Finnish tradition of working with timber from a fresh perspective.<\/p>\n

Craft also took centre stage at the Habitare Protos<\/a> exhibition of emerging designers, where Kirsikka Heiskari<\/a> showed a wobbly modular glass chandelier modelled on melting candle wax. Close by, Lennart Engels<\/a> presented a geopolymer material he developed using discarded sauna stones from Helsinki’s many public sweat rooms.<\/p>\n

The designer also collaborated with three other participants of Habitare Talents<\/a> \u2013 an exhibition for experimental and material-driven projects \u2013 to create a playfully constructed sauna heater, with individual components handmade by each member of the group.<\/p>\n

\"ArtekPhoto courtesy of Artek and Marimekko<\/p>\n

Respect for heritage<\/p>\n

Finland is known for its many heritage brands, including glassware company Iittala<\/a>, tools manufacturer Fiskars<\/a> and furniture maker Artek<\/a>, which this year marked its 90th anniversary. In celebration, the company collaborated with local textile brand Marimekko<\/a> to design the duo’s first co-created furniture range.<\/p>\n

The collection includes versions of the Aalto-designed Stool 60, Bench 153B and Table 90D, updated with inlays of wood, metal, glass and stone in recognisable Marimekko motifs. Each piece was created to be purposefully understated, marrying the brands’ different visual languages.<\/p>\n

“We’re very proud of our joint baby,” joked Artek managing director Marianne Goebl. “It’s a dialogue between two friends.”<\/p>\n

At Studio Kukkapuro<\/a>, the experimental home and studio of Yrj\u00f6 Kukkapuro, his family unveiled “the last chair” conceived by\u00a0the seminal Finnish designer before his death<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n

Designed to provide a firm grip for weaker legs, the YK92 armchair<\/a> was on display at Habitare and manufactured by furnituremaker Alestek<\/a> based on unfinished designs left behind on Kukkapuro’s desk.<\/p>\n

“He was still designing in his mind,” explained his daughter Isa Kukkapuro-Enbom, adding that her father was dreaming up new ideas even beyond the armchair until the day he died. “He was still thinking about this idea of making the most minimalistic chair ever made. And that chair, he took with him to the stars.”<\/p>\n

The top photo is by Kalle Kouhia.<\/p>\n

Helsinki Design Week 2025<\/a>\u00a0took place from 5 to 14\u00a0 September 2025 at various locations across Helsinki, Finland. See\u00a0Dezeen Events Guide<\/a>\u00a0for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n