The National Museum of Finland in Helsinki was always supposed to be expanded, says Samuli Miettinen, founding partner of JKMM Architects and lead designer of the museum’s gleaming new extension due to be inaugurated in spring 2027. Even the famous architect trio of Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen, who designed the original museum, which was completed in 1916 and built in the National Romantic Style, had 'drawn plans to expand the wings and add a courtyard,' he explains. There were other projects too, including a brutalist architecture extension by prominent Finnish architect Aarno Ruusuvuori in the mid-1980s, Miettinen continues, but the resources and capital were never there, and the plans floundered.

Tour the refreshed National Museum of Finland in Helsinki

'So there have been decades of plans, but now it’s finally happening,' says Miettinen of this once-in-a-generation commission located across the road from Alvar Aalto’s Finlandia Hall and won by JKMM Architects in an anonymous competition in 2019. The expansion will see the museum gain, among other things, a new fully glazed entrance pavilion with a restaurant and art installations, new exhibition spaces for temporary shows and events, a glazed courtyard that acts a link between the old and new building and a new access route into the formerly enclosed garden and museum; the idea is that visitors and residents will have plenty of public spaces they can enjoy without having to pay for a museum entrance ticket.

About 90 per cent of the new extension is below ground, explains Miettinen, but the ten per cent that is above is a bright and airy 600 sq m sculptural pavilion with a 43m-wide saucer-shaped roof that appears to float above 5m-tall undulating glass walls. With its relatively low height and the fact that its connection routes to the historic museum building (which has also undergone a refurb and collection redesign) are all below ground, the new pavilion is low enough and discrete enough that it 'adapts well to the older construction,' says Miettinen with a smile, 'despite its controversial shape.'

The spherical structure is intended as a forward-looking 21st-century counterpoint to the ornate historic building it stands next to, and its pioneering structural engineering underlines this fact. 'The pavilion’s bowl roof weighs 1,400 tonnes and is the same diameter as the Roman Pantheon but stands on a pedestal of reinforced concrete three metres wide,' explains Miettinen, likening it to 'a water tower structure.’

The pedestal sits inside a slightly asymmetrically placed perforated golden box of bronze aluminium at the pavilion’s heart, which also conceals lift shafts, a service kitchen, and technical installations. The suspended ceiling inside the pavilion is covered in 5,000 handmade white ceramic tiles in the shape of hearts, clovers and crosses that weigh 20kg each and took a year to create – they are cast using plaster moulds and subsequently fired at temperatures above 1,100°C – and assemble into a pattern that looks at once organic and geometric.

The curved ceiling tiles and the roof’s globe-like shape radiate a celestial quality and 'reference our world, symbolising a universal message of tenderness, hope and a better future,' says Miettinen. If the original National Museum, which was built while Finland was still part of the Russian Empire, was symbolic of Finnish aspirations for independence, this pavilion and its handcrafted dynamic ceiling represent an evolution of what it is to be Finnish, says Miettinen, a less homogeneous identity in which 'people from different cultures and backgrounds can find themselves.'

Miettinen refers to the extension project as ‘quarry architecture’ as the concrete pedestal is anchored to ancient granite bedrock 30m down and much of the technical installations, storage spaces and services are carved into it too. Fittingly, as you travel down from the ground floor of this new airy, light-filled ‘public piazza’, things get darker, and the two new black box exhibition spaces (measuring 840 sq m and 270 sq m respectively) are stained with black fire protection paint inside and out.

The material palette of the project is rich yet also deliberately minimal. Brass and bronze aluminium are featured in beautiful touches; the former on the handrails in the new extension; the latter to luxuriant effect on all the bathroom stall walls and doors in the new pavilion. Timber too is used effectively in different hues; painted black on the new temporary exhibition space walls and left untouched in the museum shop lined in spruce.

On the journey down to the exhibition spaces, you can sit on informal auditorium-type seating covered in light green woven horse tail hair, 'the most durable fabric in the world,' says partner and interior architect at JKMM Päivi Meuronen. By spring, the lobby will also be filled with benches carved out of the elm trees felled to make way for the extension and then carefully charred and painted. Like all the interior architecture in the extension, and many of the design elements, these have been designed by the 15-strong in-house interiors team at JKMM led by Meuronen.

As is often the case with JKMM projects, integrated art also features prominently and is used to add layers, ornament and depth to the project. There are two nature-themed mosaics by Finnish artist Tuula Lehtinen in the foyer that feature 92,000 tiles made and glazed by hand by the artist and her team in the industrial city of Tampere, 170km north of Helsinki. Continuing with this theme of Finnish arts and crafts are the 103 bespoke white pendant luminaires placed at different heights above the restaurant and designed to 'create a smaller and more intimate scale so you don’t have the feeling that you are sitting in a big hall,' says Meuronen.

Designed after the lily of the valley (Finland’s national flower) by Finnish glass artist Milla Vaahtera in collaboration with JKMM, each one is made by hand — and therefore unique — in the historic Nuutajärvi glass factory in western Finland that has been active since the 1790s. 'Almost everybody in Finland collected these flowers when they were kids and would put them in their pocket so they could preserve their beauty,' says Vaahtera. 'We wanted to provide a humble but collective experience of beauty that people would remember from their childhood.'

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Wellness, to the Finns, is a concept so ingrained that they have many words for it, from sisu to sauna to luonto (a love of nature) – and from the 19th century, Helsinki attracted visitors to its seaside baths and health resorts. One of its most loved institutions is Yrjönkatu, a Helsinki swimming hall built in 1928 as Finland’s first indoor pool. Almost everyone in Helsinki has swum here, and it’s a far cry from your average leisure centre.

Step inside Yrjönkatu, the newly reopened Helsinki swimming hall classic

Forget plastic decor, the overpowering smell of chlorine and vending machines selling crisps and fizzy drinks. In what was a wholly new concept at the time, Yrjönkatu offered bathing, grooming, medical diagnostics, dining and entertainment under one roof in the middle of the city. Visitors could enjoy two pools, three saunas, and good food, and rest on beds in private cubicles overlooking the water while having their shoes polished, clothes pressed, and hair styled.

After Finland gained independence from Russia in 1917, the country went on a construction drive. Architects blended Nordic Classicism with hints of art deco to create uniform streets and spacious courtyards. Yrjönkatu, which sits on a tight urban plot, is an elegant example of both styles. Its architect, Väinö Vähäkallio (1886-1959), was heavily involved in the modernisation of Finland, but the 5,284 sq m Yrjönkatu is one of his most loved buildings.

So loved, in fact, that during its two-year renovation, locals were vocal in their feedback. ‘Don’t change its soul. Preserve the atmosphere and character that make it so special,’ was the overwhelming response. And on this, the city has delivered.

The watery blue tiles, the cabins with their slimline mattresses and sanatorium feel, the hooks and rails and lights, are all intact. New (welcome) additions are an upgraded ticket office and lifeguards’ booth, extra lockers, a modern kitchen and improved disabled access.

The 1930s recession and the Second World War put paid to some of Yrjönkatu’s more utopian concepts; the saxophone orchestra and ballroom are gone, so too the on-the-spot doctor appointments – although the third-floor locker rooms where these took place are still intact and a new gym and physiotherapy equipment have been installed. Despite financial highs and lows and this recent renovation, the inclusive spirit of Yrjönkatu is just as it ever was.

For six euros, visitors have two-hour access to a locker and the ground-floor pool and sauna; over-68s go free and there are multiple discounts for members, students and children, many of whom learn to swim here. Other areas, such as the smaller third-floor pool, the cabins and the wood-fired sauna, cost extra and can be hired privately.

On the third floor, a log-panelled private room, built in homage to the great military statesman and former Finnish president Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (1867-1951), is a nod to the bath’s glorious past. It can be exclusively hired for up to 20 people and serves as a reminder that Finns have always seen bathing spaces as those in which to conduct tricky negotiations and high-level diplomacy.

The mix of private and communal spaces at different price points is unusual for a civic swimming hall and undoubtedly contributes to Yrjönkatu’s universal and enduring appeal. Meanwhile, Yrjonkatu's iconic drink, sima, a mead-like lemonade, will be back by popular demand. It's typically drunk only in the spring, but the swimming hall was the only place in the city to serve it all year round, and now it will continue to do so.

Men and women swim on separate days, and nudity is not uncommon, though swimwear can be hired along with robes. Pre-renovation, the café at Yrjönkatu was a far cry from the waiters-and-white-napkin service of yore, but this autumn, restaurant Uimasalonki will step in (from Alvar Tallskog and Ville Tikkanen, the team that changed the fortunes of Helsinki’s White Hall) will step in. This week, the swimming hall reopens, bringing with it the uncommon but much-welcome notion that places to relax and reset rather than improve athleticism and optimise fitness are more needed now than they ever were.

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In the last 12 months, the most talked-about restaurants weren’t just about what was on the plate. Design took the lead, with new openings using architecture and interiors as part of the experience rather than polite scenery. Across cities and continents, former embassies, fortresses, office blocks and coastal sites were reworked into dining rooms with a clear point of view. The following Wallpaper* edit offers a snapshot of the spaces that redefined restaurant design this year.

The best restaurant design of 2025

Call Me Ten

Tucked within the refined, residential enclave of Vasant Vihar in New Delhi, Call Me Ten emerges as a 6,000 sq ft Japanese restaurant and bar. Designed by Renesa Architecture Design Interiors, the site is defined by a materially restrained but expressive language. Natural limestone plaster and stone aggregates anchor the space, while soft curves and muted tones create an interior that feels both serene and theatrical. Subtle nods to Japanese aesthetics run throughout, from Shoji-inspired partitions that diffuse light with gentle translucency to a layout informed by tatami logic, encouraging intimacy and order. Polished concrete floors lend contemporary clarity, offset by pockets of deep-toned, hand-crafted mosaic tiles. Complementing the design, the menu reinterprets Japanese tradition through a modern izakaya lens, pairing dishes such as miso black cod and pork belly with inventive, Asian-inflected cocktails.

Call Me Ten is located at 58, Market, Basant Lok, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi, Delhi 110057, India

Read our full review of Call Me Ten

Carbone London

Once Eero Saarinen’s modernist vision of American diplomacy, the former US Embassy reopened this year as The Chancery Rosewood. Appropriately, the Grade II-listed building now hosts Carbone, one of America’s most beloved restaurants, marking the brand’s first European outpost. Originating in New York’s Greenwich Village, Carbone is as renowned for its Italian-American classics as its A-list following. In London, designer Ken Fulk channels Rat Pack-era glamour across a two-level space rich in theatrical flourish: Carbone-blue panelling, hand-painted murals, burgundy velvet banquettes and marble mosaics set the scene. MoMA-calibre artworks, live music and an indulgent, ‘a piacere’, or ‘as you like it’ culinary approach complete an experience rooted in spectacle.

Carbone London is located at 30 Grosvenor Sq, London W1K 2LG, UK

Read our full review of Carbone London

Cento Raw Bar

Michelin-recognised Cento Pasta Bar has long been one of West Adams’ most elusive reservations; now, its sibling Cento Raw Bar opens next door, offering Angelenos a second, distinctly different experience from chef and co-owner Avner Levi. Designed by Brandon Miradi, also behind Somni, the space is defined by thickly plastered walls and ceilings, brushed into undulating waves that lend a quietly surreal, oceanic rhythm. The motif continues in curved ceilings, minimal metal barstools and custom tableware, while sculptural light fittings by Ukrainian studio ClayP add tactility overhead. At the centre, scallop-shaped seafood towers piled high with oysters, shrimp and lobster set the tone, alongside jewel-toned cocktails. Dessert leans playful, with mosaic cheesecake and a nostalgic chocolate cake finale.

Cento Raw Bar is located at 4919 W Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016, United States

Read our full review of Cento Raw Bar

Dévo Marseille

Designer Axel Chay’s totemic tubular steel forms have long embodied Marseille’s creative pulse; now, he and his wife Mélissa channel that energy into Dévo, a new restaurant and wine bar in the Préfecture neighbourhood. Named after the American new-wave band, it marks the duo’s first fully designed and art-directed space. Cocooning yet animated, the interior pairs contemporary lines with vintage patina: lime satin curtains sweep across concrete floors, offsetting a zinc bar and steel stools inspired by Italian cafés and Spanish vermuterias. Cinematic details abound: mirrored artworks by Aurélien Ciller, plaster seagulls in flight and bespoke lighting by Axel’s brother Aimeric. In the kitchen, chef Ferdinand Fravega serves relaxed Provençal dishes, paired with a 100-strong list of independent and natural wines.

Dévo Marseille is located at 22 Bd Paul Peytral, 13006 Marseille, France

Read our full review of Dévo Marseille

Elmina

In Washington DC, Elmina is the debut bricks-and-mortar venture of Ghanaian-American chef Eric Adjepong: a restaurant that celebrates modern Africa while acknowledging the complexities of its past. Its name carries weight, referencing the port that became the site of sub-Saharan Africa’s first European slave-trading post. Dreamt up by local studio Drummond Projects, the 3,720 sq ft, three-storey space reads as a fluid, immersive journey, with each space defined by material and colour references, unified by a sculptural curving stairwell and enriched with bespoke artworks, artisan textiles and warm, tactile finishes throughout. The food itself is deeply rooted in tradition, a love letter to Adjepong’s ancestors and recipes he grew up with. Experiences on offer span a five-course tasting menu, a chop bar selection and a hearty brunch, with standout dishes including the comfortingly smoky jollof duck pot.

Elmina is located at 2208 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009, United States

Read our full review of Elmina

Restaurant Esperit Roca

Set within a 19th-century fortress on the hills outside Girona, Esperit Roca evokes the beauty of raw materials with a rugged yet refined touch. Part of a remote gastronomic complex by the Roca brothers, which also houses a 16-bedroom hotel, the restaurant overlooks the mountains, woodland and sea of northern Catalonia. Designed by Girona-based Andreu Carulla, the interiors are pared-back and elemental, shaped from stone, concrete and wood in muted greys and greens. Locally quarried piedra de Girona limestone forms sculptural counters, lamps and monolithic sinks, echoing the fortress itself. Midcentury-inspired furniture, agricultural textiles and pockets of greenery reinforce the connection to place. In the kitchen, Joan and Jordi Roca deliver concept-driven tasting menus that reinterpret local produce with rigour, poetry and surprise. Don’t miss the tasting menu that offers two main courses and six desserts.

Restaurant Esperit Roca is located at Carrer Major, Entrada 1, 17481 Sant Julià de Ramis, Girona, Spain

Read our full review of Restaurant Esperit Roca

Finlandia Bistro

Alvar Aalto’s modernist landmark, Finlandia Hall, now houses a new restaurant that allows guests to dine in surroundings that gently echo the architect’s enduring design language. In contrast to the hall’s light, open spaces, the bistro is warmly cocooned in deeper tones, soft fabrics and tactile textures. Designed by Fyra, the interior blends Finnish modernist classics with contemporary pieces from Finnish Design Shop, alongside bespoke built-ins. Deep blue curtains recall Finlandia Hall’s cobalt accents, while wood and brass details nod to Aalto’s modernism. Led by head chef Mikko Puuronen, the 64-seat restaurant serves Nordic-inspired dishes with subtle Mediterranean inflexions.

Finlandia Bistro is located at Mannerheimintie 13e, 00100 Helsinki, Finland

Read our full review of Finlandia Bistro

Jncquoi Fish

‘Where food meets fashion meets hospitality’ underpins Jncquoi, the Lisbon lifestyle hub launched in 2017 by Paula Amorim and Miguel Guedes de Sousa of the Amorim Luxury Group. While the brand’s first hotel, Jncquoi House (designed by Vincent Van Duysen), will open in 2026, its newest restaurant, Jncquoi Fish, already signals the next chapter. Beneath a neo-Moorish façade, the space unfolds in Van Duysen’s restrained language of marble, limestone and ceramics, with dark clay floors by Viúva Lamego and bespoke furnishings and lighting made in Portugal. Tables cluster around the open kitchen, where chefs António Bóia and Filipe Carvalho celebrate Atlantic seafood through refined Portuguese flavours, from caviar-topped cod fritters to blue lobster rice, complemented by an astute, terroir-driven wine programme and assured, indulgent desserts.

Jncquoi Fish is located at Av. da Liberdade 189 1, 1250-096 Lisboa, Portugal

Read our full review of Jncquoi Fish

Milló

On the ground floor of the ADNBA-designed Millo Offices in Bucharest’s business area, Milló explores how contemporary design can converse with history. Responding to the building’s art deco undertones, local studio AÉ02 shaped an interior defined by light, texture and material warmth. At its centre hangs a dramatic ‘volcano of light’: an illuminated feature suspended above the main dining table, shifting in tone throughout the day. LED strips trace the ceiling edges, sharpening geometry through light and shadow, while the bar counter pairs stainless steel with cherry Levanto marble, concealing a discreet DJ booth. The Mediterranean-leaning menu – think baked artichoke, saffron risotto and miso-marinated cod – completes the experience, encouraging guests to linger from midday through to midnight.

Milló is located at Strada Ion Câmpineanu 19, Bucharest 030167, Romania.

Read our full review of Milló

Rubra

Hotel restaurants rarely transcend the orbit of the properties they inhabit, but on the northern edge of Banderas Bay, Rubra decisively breaks that pattern. Part of W Punta de Mita, the restaurant is led by Daniela Soto-Innes, who was named World’s Best Female Chef in 2019. At just 28, she was the youngest chef to earn the accolade. Designed by Ignacio Urquiza with interiors by Ana Paula de Alba, Rubra takes the form of a sand-toned concrete monolith, its restrained architecture softened by creeping greenery and expansive views towards the Sierra Madre. A pergola of wooden lattices filters light across an open, fluid dining room, blurring indoors and out. Soto-Innes’ ‘tropical cooking’ draws from seasonal produce, much of it grown on site, shaping menus that favour citrus, herbs and vivid coastal flavours, from scallops dressed in kombu aguachile to flower-crowned tuna tostadas.

Rubra is located at Carr. Federal la Cruz de Huanacaxtle - Punta de Mita Km 8.5, Desarrollo Costa, 63734 Corral del Risco, Nay., Mexico

Read our full review of Rubra

At Wallpaper*, movement is second nature, and savouring it is an art. Whether on assignment or off-duty, our editorial team is perpetually combing the globe, visiting places that are mind-expanding and spirit-lifting. This year, we paused to gather the places that truly stayed with us. Consider this selection of travel highlights, handpicked by our staff, as a starting point for the year ahead, compiled to spark curiosity and fuel your future travel plans.

As such, follow the sun to Mexico, Greece, Spain and Italy, or embrace the stark beauty of Finland and Iceland. Looking for adventure? Uzbekistan, Egypt and Kenya deliver. For a spiritual reset, Japan and South Korea offer ritual and depth. From European mainstays such as Vienna and Lisbon to American icons including Miami and Joshua Tree, let’s get globetrotting.

Amanohashidate, Japan

‘Last April, adding a few days to a long-haul work trip felt like the responsible thing to do, particularly when long-haul now extends to a 16-hour dog-leg to Osaka via Doha, which is how I came to visit one of Japan’s most revered destinations, Amanohashidate, site of a 3.6km sidebar known as ‘the staircase to heaven’ that cuts across Miayazu Bay in Kyoto prefecture. Amanohashidate itself is a quiet village with a national landmark at its heart and a well-run ryokan (Monjusou) to relax in, but the surrounding area is blessed with no less significant points of interest. Ine is a ‘floating village’ of 230 fishing cottages, protected as a heritage site, that offers good walking with splendid sea views and great coffee in one of its repurposed properties. Sometimes all you need is sea air, the odd stroll and the chance to indulge in something as silly as matanozoki, or peering between your legs atop Kasamatsu Park, at which point the now-inverted sandbar appears as a bridge across the sky.’

– Bill Prince, editor-in-chief

Athens, Greece

‘This past autumn, I celebrated a milestone birthday in Athens. The city feels as though it was shaped by accumulation rather than careful urban planning, its layers of typeface, texture and attitude stacked across eras, politics and glitzy inconsistencies. Visually, Athens is unrelenting: everything speaks loudly and constantly, and nothing is treated as too precious. Even the Acropolis feels unresolved, its original fragments scattered between the exquisitely built Acropolis Museum and far beyond Greece’s borders. I enjoyed long lunches with generous pours of Assyrtiko from aluminium jugs, and late nights drifting into hot spots like SMUT, where Athens’ spontaneity really kicks in. I chose Athens as my favourite of the year because it thrives in chaos, offering moments of beauty and excitement, and rewarding those who stay longer, pay attention and arrive hungry.’

– Gabriel Annouka, senior designer

Brittany, France

‘On something of a nostalgia trip to the south coast of Brittany, France – the destination of my first-ever trip abroad – now with my own teenagers in tow, I was relieved to find it a still-lovely, laidback and low-key escape with none of the hussle or hassle a beach break during the summer holidays can entail. The sea was utterly clear – too freezing for me, even in July, for more than one cold plunge, but perfect for kayaking or admiring endlessly from coastal walking paths. Bike hire in this cycling-obsessed nation was ubiquitous and the paths plentiful and well sign-posted; they even continued across estuaries, courtesy of short ferry hops on which bikes were not just bienvenue but (bafflingly for a Brit used to transport-network shortfalls) positively encouraged. And a day’s hire extended through to the evening, allowing ample time for a thoroughly civilised French lunch break en route with (savoury) galettes and (sweet) crêpes galore. Pancakes for all courses is a concept close to my heart.’

– Bridget Downing, executive editor

Cairo, Egypt

‘In November, I visited Cairo and spent a few warm, autumnal days watching the light shift over the Art D’Égypte installations, set in the sand beneath the pyramids of Giza. I was particularly drawn to SolidNature and Studio PROBA’s organically shaped, naturally coloured stone sculptures. Seeing them positioned against the pyramids was both wondrous and surreal: two forms of stone, prehistoric in material yet composed millennia apart, held in quiet dialogue with one another. The experience was utterly mesmerising, leaving me feeling incredibly small in the face of such magnificence and scale. Other highlights across the city included losing track of time in the newly opened Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) and wandering through the calming gardens of Adam Henein’s gallery house.’

– Olly Mason, head of interiors

Évora, Portugal

‘When my sister moved to Lisbon in 2024, I dreamily imagined endless weekends of wandering, but life got in the way and it never quite happened; until this summer, when we managed to bring both our families together for ten scorching days in Alentejo, a more off-the-beaten-path part of Portugal, around 90 minutes east of Lisbon. We stayed in gloriously serene countryside, awash with olive groves and vineyards, occasionally popping into the medieval, walled UNESCO city of Évora for ice cream (Pezagno, delicious!). On one visit, we explored the Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones), a 16th-century chapel within the Church of St Francis, built by Franciscan monks as a memento mori to inspire reflection on the transience of life. Its walls and columns are clad with thousands of strikingly arranged human skulls and bones, previously buried in Évora’s medieval cemeteries. Above the door, an inscription reads: “We bones are here, waiting for yours.” At the entrance to this macabre chapel is a simple modern mural by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira – a counterpoint to its meditation on mortality.’

– Anne Soward, production editor

Helsinki, Finland

‘While others escaped to hotter climes, last February, I decided to embrace the cold and wintry feel of Europe and headed further north, to Helsinki. It was one of the best travel decisions I ever made. The day was short, but the city was fun, and the cultural offerings were plentiful and welcoming. Helsinki was frozen – not that you would be bothered with the right clothes and shoes, especially in the city centre, where pavements are heated so that the snow doesn’t build up. A short ferry ride, breaking through the icy waters, took me to the magical Suomenlinna sea fortress - thank you, Laura Iloniemi, for the tip! I also explored the numerous art offerings the city has to offer, from the Amos Rex museum to the Temppeliaukio church of the rock. I stayed at a timber-framed hotel by the water, Solo Sokos Pier 4, paid a visit to the renovated Finlandia Hall, and enjoyed sticky Korvapuusti (Finnish cinnamon rolls) and warm and creamy salmon soup. As travel reviews often conclude, “would definitely recommend.”’

– Ellie Stathaki, architecture and environment director

Hydra, Greece

‘This year I’ve been lucky to visit great European capitals including Vienna, Paris and Athens, but somehow it’s my day on the small Greek island of Hydra that was most memorable. Big cities are filled with great things to do and see, but Hydra offers an escape from it all, with no cars, no museums, and practically no phone reception. And yet it still has everything you might possibly need on a nice autumn day: a lunch at a taverna followed by a dip in the sea, and a walk along the coastal path, suspended between the blue sky and the Mediterranean.’

– Léa Teuscher, sub-editor

Joshua Tree, USA

‘In May, I made the three-hour journey from Los Angeles into the Mojave Desert to Joshua Tree. It had long been on my list to visit, likely prompted by endless interviews with musicians who enthused about the desert’s mystical energy. There are no shortage of incredible architectural stays to book in the area, but after much deliberation, I settled on this geodesic dome, far enough away from civilisation to get the full experience (the drive back from dinner in the pitch black was a little hairy) but just twenty minutes from Joshua Tree National Park and the must-sees of the Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms. I loved every single thing about this trip. From the weird roadside stops along the route – a desert crochet museum? A shrine to fifties hairdressing? A park filled with many, many statues of Christ? – to dinner at The Copper Room, drinks at Mas o Menos and obligatory live music at Pioneertown institution, Pappy & Harriet’s (the nearby Red Dog Saloon was a little quieter when Pappy’s is packed). I can’t wait to return.’

– Charlotte Gunn, director of digital content

Kyoto, Japan

‘I loved visiting Kyoto this year, and discovering its rich history, gorgeous food and beautiful surroundings. The highlight, though, was being able to get to know some of the locals, who were as generous with their time as they are cultured, intelligent, and extremely kind.’

– Hannah Silver, art, culture, watches and jewellery editor

Lake Como, Italy

‘Until last year, I had never been to Italy; now, I can say I’ve been three times. A run of good fortune took me to Milan for Salone de Mobile, and Venice for an immersive exhibition hosted by Golden Goose. In addition, to mark the beginning of the summer season, I was invited to Lake Como to stay at Il Sereno’s new listening suite, designed by Patricia Urquiola. The lake in the foothills of the Alps took my breath away. It was scenery I had not seen before, and I was captivated by its beauty. There was an effortless air of Old Hollywood glamour and relaxed sophistication coupled with the calming nature of the lake, which makes the location entirely unique. I cannot wait to go back.’

– Tianna Williams, staff writer

Menorca, Spain

‘The Menorca Experimental hotel had been on my bucket list for years, and I finally made it there for a short break in September. Designed by Dorothée Meilichzon, the interiors strike a balance between playful colour and subtle Art Deco references, incorporating local designers and materials. It felt considered yet relaxed. The weather was still warm enough for sea swims in some of the clearest water I’ve seen in Europe, and it was easy to find quieter spots that felt untouched. There’s a quiet, understated rhythm to the island that encourages you to slow down, making it a perfect mid-season reset.’

– Cindy Parthonnaud, acting photography editor

Mérida, Mexico

‘I spent 10 days in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula this summer and enjoyed soaking up Mérida’s rich history, intense summer heat and xtabentún, the local firewater. The city is about 30 miles inland, meaning those craving a swim-up bar or large beach resort won’t find it here. Instead, they’ll discover a mix of unhurried streets, bustling markets, pretty boutiques and innovative cuisine that spotlights traditional Yucatec cooking. My husband and I checked in at Hotel Cigno, an elegant boutique property located in Mérida’s historic heart, before hiring a local guide to take us to Uxmal, one of the Mayan world’s most important sites, and an azure blue cenote, a naturally occurring limestone sinkhole that peppers the area. There was still an opportunity to hit the beach, though: an hour-ride taxi will take you straight to the coast, where you can take in tranquil waters, white sand beaches, bright-pink salt lakes and – my favourite – droves of flamingos.’

– Anna Fixsen, U.S. editor

Miami, USA

‘I came to Miami for the Grand Prix – where Lego had built ten fully drivable cars – but stayed for the art deco architecture, palm-lined boulevards and viscerally cinematic sunsets. Miami’s expansion in the 1920s and 30s left it with a remarkable concentration of art deco buildings, which I completely fell in love with. A stroll down Ocean Drive – one of the finest showcases of the style – took me hours, slowed by pastel façades and kitsch vintage cars that demanded to be photographed. Little Havana, shaped by Cuban émigrés after the 1959 revolution, is home to cigar shops, graffiti tributes to Celia Cruz and Old’s Havana Cuban Bar & Cocina, which, with its yellow walls and mojito production line, is an institution. So, too, is Delilah – swathed in pink velvet and favoured by A-listers – though in an entirely different vein. Miami is a place I’d return to in a heartbeat.’

– Anna Solomon, digital writer

Nesjavellir, Iceland

‘My yearly travel mainly comprises the movement between Milan, Paris and New York for fashion week (and the freneticism and overstimulation these trips bring), so when I’m not working I seem to be attracted towards the vast and the desolate – Lanzarote has become my go-to escape, and this spring I loved losing myself in its strange, moonlike landscapes once again. Though it was another otherworldly (and volcanic) island that was my favourite trip of 2025: Iceland, which I visited with 66 North last month (the outerwear brand was founded on the island a century ago). I have been a couple of times before, though each time it is surprising in its vastness and scale: speeding across the snow-covered mountain ridge Thórsmörk – named after the Norse god Thor – on off-roading buggies was a truly cinematic experience (and the perfect release). We spent the second night at the Ion Adventure Hotel, a Brutalist box on stilts that looks out over the geothermal fields of Nesjavellir – in the silence, it was my best night’s sleep of the year.’

– Jack Moss, fashion and beauty features director

Seoul, South Korea

‘About two hours from Seoul, in the mountains of Wonju, Museum SAN (Space Art Nature) heralds an architectural feat by Tadao Ando: a 25-metre-wide subterranean dome beneath the museum’s flower garden, topped with an oculus rising more than seven metres high. Titled Ground, it was commissioned to accompany Antony Gormley’s exhibition Drawing on Space.’

– Jason Hughes, creative director

Tashkent, Uzbekistan

‘I spend much of my year bouncing around beautiful design-led hotels. But at least once a year, I make it my mission to step out of this bubble as a reminder of why I love to travel in the first place. And this year, my trip to Uzbekistan was a welcome reset. It’s not a destination known for luxury, but with tourism on the rise, you can feel the energy in Tashkent’s creative pockets and across Samarkand and Bukhara, which just hosted its inaugural biennale. From the staggering detail of the Islamic architecture to the small, genuinely local boutique hotels, there’s an incredible history and a rawness that was not just compelling, but a reminder that stepping away from the familiar is not just refreshing, but important to keep your curiosity alive.’

– Lauren Ho, travel director

Tokyo, Japan

‘Tokyo had been calling for some time, and this October I was finally able to answer. Japan’s capital is an urban sprawl of ritual, contrast, beauty and tradition, where even the smallest details feel deliberate and meaningful. It was my first visit, and I tried to stay fully present, absorbing as much of the city’s energy as possible; yet I still feel I barely scratched the surface. There are countless moments I hold onto, but one stands out: waking to a bright, clear morning and, from my hotel room on the 34th floor of Fairmont Tokyo, spotting Mount Fuji in the distance. It appeared as a majestic presence on the horizon, wishing the city a good day.’

– Sofia de la Cruz, travel editor

Vienna, Austria

‘Vienna is a really great city for a short getaway, especially for those interested in design. The city is filled with hidden gems, such as the interiors and ambience of Café Prückel, located just across the street from the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK). Be sure to check out the numerous storefronts designed by Hans Hollein throughout the city, including the iconic façade of the Retti candle shop. One of the highlights for me was the Roman Catholic church depicted above, built in the late 1970s by architect Viktor Hufnagl.’

– Sebastian Jordahn, head of video

Watamu, Kenya

‘Earlier this year, I travelled to Kenya and spent time in Watamu, a coastal town known for stunning white-sand beaches, coral reefs, mangroves and a large marine life. I was there for a private yoga retreat with a yoga company called Pana and stayed in a one-of-a-kind treehouse, Watamu Tree House, near Watamu Beach. Our treehouse retreat, built by the family who runs it, rises through the landscape, from the ground to the top floor, with shimmering coloured glass mosaics. Each day in Watamu began with yoga in the studio at the top of the building, which offered quiet and perspective. Practising yoga above the ground, with the sea nearby and trees in the distance, felt grounding. Fresh vegetarian meals formed the core of each day, as each meal came with coconut water and juices made fresh each morning.’

– Jamilah Rose-Roberts, social media editor

The annual Wallpaper* Design Awards issue features an honour roll of outstanding places, products and people; celebrating the power of design to lift spirits and improve lives. The City of the Year award spotlights the urban locations, making an impact in design, architecture and contemporary culture.

Discover the nominated locations below, and stay tuned for the winner, which will be announced in the next issue of Wallpaper* magazine on 8 January 2026.

Wallpaper* Design Awards 2026: City of the Year shortlist

Accra, Ghana

Ghana’s capital is entering a defining chapter, its creative momentum gathering pace after years of long-stated ambition. This year (2025), the team behind Limbo Accra established a new intellectual anchor for the city with Limbo Museum in Labone: a 600 sq m, two-storey transformation of an unfinished structure into a cultural hub, research lab and exhibition space where architecture and art converge. Across town, the opening of Dot.ateliers | Ogbojo by DeRoche Projects and TAELON7, serves as HQ for a writers’ and curators’ residency dedicated to rest, reflection and cross-continental exchange on Accra’s outskirts. Meanwhile, Lesley Lokko’s African Futures Institute (AFI) continues to evolve and push the trajectory further. And yet, as Ghanaian architect Alice Asafu-Adjaye reminds us in her Wallpaper* local’s guide to Accra, the engine of this rising power city remains its people: ‘You hear us before you see us,’ she says, whether in music, debate or conversation – a vibrancy that continues to propel Accra’s evolution.

New architecture: Backyard Community Club, by DeRoche Projects; Dot.ateliers | Ogbojo, by DeRoche Projects and TAELON7; Limbo Museum, by Limbo Accra.

Hotels and restaurants: Ghana Club; Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City, by Page and Looney and Associates; La Villa Boutique Hotel; Santoku, by Hubert de Givenchy.

Cultural draws: Dikan Center, founded by photographer Paul Ninson; National Theatre, by CCTN Design; Nubuke Foundation, by Nav_s Baerbel Mueller and TAELON7.

Busan, South Korea

Newly named World Design Capital 2028, Busan is gaining momentum, using design to build on its traditions of civic resilience and cooperation. Under the banner Inclusive City, Engaged Design, the bid reflects a place intent on shaping more connected futures and deepening its cultural landscape, from the vast Eco Delta Smart City plan, a zero-energy, water-smart district built on digital urban systems, to a surge of architectural ambition now reshaping the skyline. Under construction, Kengo Kuma’s Busan Lotte Town Tower rises over the waterfront, Snøhetta’s long-awaited Busan Opera House edges toward reality, and OMA is reimagining hillside living through its Slope Housing model. Seoul may have taken our Best City award in 2024, but Busan, with its blend of ambition and intention, may well be next in line.

New architecture: Cheongsapo Daritdol Observatory; Heungkuk Tower Busan, by Mecanoo; Millac The Market / LJL Architects and 2K1 Architecture.

Under construction: Busan Lotte Town Tower, by Kengo Kuma and Associates; Busan Opera House, by Snøhetta with Ilshin Architects; Busan Slope Housing, by OMA.

Hotels and restaurants: EL 16.52, by JOHO Architecture; Mogua Hotel; Sakae, by Studio Gaia.

Cultural draws: Busan Cinema Centre, by Coop Himmelb(l)au; SCRAB, by JeongChoi Works; Space Lee Ufan, by KAGA Architects & Planners.

Delhi, India

Delhi’s creative momentum is set to accelerate in 2026 with the launch of the Delhi Design District this spring. Born from the collaboration between Wallpaper* and StoneX, the cultural hub, whose facade is inspired by the Rosetta Stone, will be home to multisensory art experiences, installations shaped by various Indian dance forms, and seven galleries that reflect human emotions. Its arrival will co-exist neatly with the annual India Art Fair, hosted every February. Meanwhile, the city’s gallery landscape continues to evolve, led by long-standing heavyweights like Nature Morte alongside a widening constellation of experimental spaces. As Delhi continues to see urbanisation and population growth, its current redevelopment of the New Delhi Railway Station will enhance civilian connections to buses, metro and airport alongside nearby areas.

New architecture: Pendentive House, by AKDA; Yashobhoomi Convention & Exhibition Centre, by IDOM + CP Kukreja Architects.

Under construction: Central Vista Redevelopment; Delhi Design District building; New Delhi Railway Station redevelopment.

Hotels and restaurants: Call Me Ten, by Renesa Architecture Design Interiors; The Lodhi, by Kerry Hill; Zura Restaurant and Bar, by Studiio Dangg.

Cultural draws: Nature Morte; Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya, by Sikka Associates Architects; Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts, by Shiv Nath Prasa.

Detroit, USA

Detroit is booming – again. Michigan Central, once a symbol of the city’s collapse, now anchors a high-energy mobility campus and sets the tone for a skyline shifting in real time. Downtown, Bedrock’s Hudson’s Detroit, designed by SHoP Architects, rises like a new marker of ambition, while the revived Book Tower blends contemporary living and culture into its restored historic shell. Neighbourhoods are keeping pace: Little Village is accelerating thanks to the Curis-led arts centre Shepherd and a flurry of creative openings, while Core City’s experimental housing and live-work compounds have turned it into a compelling urban laboratory. The numbers reinforce the sentiment: the city gained 12,500 new residents last year, and since 2011, Design Core Detroit has organised Detroit Month of Design, a yearly, city-wide festival that spotlights local creatives and projects.

New architecture: Bedrock’s Hudson’s Detroit, by SHoP Architects; Lantern complex and PASC building, by OMA.

Under construction: Stanton Yards, by SO-IL and OSD; NoMad Detroit.

Hotels and restaurants: Barda restaurant, by Undecorated; Shinola Hotel, by Gachot Studios; The Siren Hotel, by ASH NYC.

Cultural draws: Downtown Detroit and Library Street Collective, founded by Anthony and JJ Curis; Shepherd art Centre, by Peterson Rich Office.

Helsinki, Finland

As Helsinki Design Week 2025 marked its 20th anniversary, the city leaned into a question it knows well: why does the world’s happiest country stay so content? The Scandinavian nation has been designated the happiest in the world for the last eight years by the annual WEF report. The answer is arguably written across the city itself: modern yet rooted, social yet quietly reflective. Its design heritage and forward-looking attitude form a kind of civic formula, visible everywhere from a new wave of design-led hotels to its constellation of spas, singular restaurants and cultural institutions. Helsinki tends its past while engineering its future: the refreshed Finlandia Hall reasserts Aalto’s legacy, while the forthcoming Museum of Architecture and Design will unite more than 900,000 artefacts under one roof. It’s a city refining its identity with calm assurance.

New architecture: Finlandia Hall, refreshed by Arkkitehdit NRT; Lagmansgården, by Anttinen Oiva Architects.

Under construction: Museum of Architecture and Design, by JKMM.

Hotels and restaurants: Finlandia Hall Bistro, by Fyra; Finlandia Homes, featuring Alvar Aalto’s original designs; Jackie, by Joanna Laajisto; Solo Sokos Pier 4, by Anttinen Oiva Architects.

Cultural draws: House of Culture Vallikallio, by Alvar Aalto; Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, by Steven Holl; Oodi, by ALA Architects.

São Paulo, Brazil

Long considered one of Wallpaper*’s original design destinations, hard-working São Paulo is not a city that rests on its laurels. While residential projects remain a defining lure (from Studio Arthur Casas’ Pacaembu House, which won a Wallpaper* Design Award in 2024, to the confident work of established studios), large-scale regeneration is gathering pace; Planta Inc’s revival of the city’s modernist heritage signals a renewed respect for its icons, while Sol Camacho’s transformation of Pacaembu Stadium casts tropical modernism in a refreshed light. Hospitality is keeping pace, with Rosewood, Soho House and W drawing travellers hungry for the city’s creative energy. And this year’s 14th International Architecture Biennale pushed the conversation further, challenging architecture to confront climate change and the extreme events reshaping our urban future.

New architecture: Ibaté Building, by Studio Arthur Casas; Roca São Paulo Gallery, by Fernanda Marques; Pina Contemporânea Museum, by Arquitetos Associados.

Under construction: Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP), by Metro Arquitetos.

Hotels and restaurants: Pulso Hotel Faria Lima, by Arthur Casas; Rosewood São Paulo, by Philippe Starck; Santokki Restaurant, by Tadu Arquitetura,

Cultural draws: Edifício Itália, by Franz Heep; Ibirapuera Auditorium, by Oscar Niemeyer; Porto Seguro Cultural Space, by São Paulo Arquitetura.

Explore the shortlist for Life-Enhancer of the Year and Launch of the Year in the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2026.

‘The world doesn’t just become better on its own – it’s made better:’ a fitting opening statement to the seventh edition of 'Designs for a Cooler Planet' (until 28 October 2025), an annual exhibition at Helsinki’s Aalto University that asks participants to create tangible solutions to pressing global issues. It comes as part of the Finnish capital’s design week, and invites submissions from students, staff, and researchers across the university’s subject departments.

‘We try to select a really diverse showcase that reflects the uniquely multi-disciplinary approach at Aalto,’ says Enni Äijälä, the exhibition’s art director. ‘The common denominator is the agency and determination to effect positive change for the planet.’

'Designs for a Cooler Planet': inside the show's pioneering exhibits

One project in the show has already been fully realised: Tiny House Shadow, the real-life residence of the university’s professor of sustainable construction, Matti Kuittinen. The black, timber-clad property (shown in the exhibition as a scale model) was designed by Kuittinen in a way that significantly minimises the material and carbon footprint of typical housing.

More than half of it is created out of recycled matter, while the rest is made from materials that were specifically chosen for their low emissions: the living room floor, for example, is crafted from old fishing nets, while the structural framework is forged from fossil-free steel. As a result, the house uses 85 per cent less material and 43 per cent less land compared to a traditional single-family house, leading to a 53 per cent smaller carbon footprint per resident

At the heart of the exhibition, there’s also a finished prototype of Kasvu, a 9.4 sq m living unit developed by Daniela Alatorre, Pekka Heikkinen, and Laura Zubillaga, a trio of educators from the university’s wood programme. Championing the possibilities of modular construction, the unit is created out of lightweight, flat-packable timber components that could be prefabricated in a factory and transported to a desired site without any need for heavy machinery. Its structural and non-structural elements have also been purposely separated so that, over time, they could easily be removed for maintenance or readaptation.

Tiina Nypelö, a professor from the university’s school of chemical engineering, has been working with academics from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden to cultivate what they call ‘myotecture’ – a sustainable form of construction that employs yeast biomass. So far, the group has been able to feed the biomass through a 3D printer to make building blocks and interior wall panels, swatches of which are displayed in glass cases.

Some of the projects presented in the show are more conceptual, such as the Beacon project by a team from Aalto University’s school of engineering. It proposes using biochar – a carbon-negative by-product of biofuel production – to stabilise the foundations of roads, bridges and other types of infrastructure erected on Finland’s soft, clay-rich soil. The team says that biochar would not only serve as an eco-friendly alternative to conventional strengthening materials like cement, but its carbon-sequestering abilities mean it could also turn sites into CO2 ‘sinks’.

Then there’s the ‘Ceci n’est pas une porte’ (‘This is not a door’) project by various members of the university’s art, design and architecture school. Together, they produced a series of ‘absurd’ storybooks that reveal the often ridiculous obstacles that architects and builders have to bypass to avoid wasting construction materials.

For Äijälä, showcasing these theoretical ideas is as imperative as presenting those that are already in the making. ‘The goal is to keep opening up research and education – making sure new ideas and findings do not stay behind closed doors, but are brought onto a public stage to spark dialogue and wider change,’ she says. ‘I believe that significant change begins when we dare to dream big and design alternative future visions – the exhibition gives us the freedom to imagine and demonstrate those possibilities. Before we can change anything, we need to know what “good” looks like.’

The exhibition runs until 28 October 2025 at Aalto University

It was a twin masterstroke for the team at Helsinki Design Week, on the occasion of their 20th anniversary, to tackle the subject of happiness, and to recruit the excellent curator (and errant Finn) Anniina Koivu to deliver the 2025 festival’s principal exhibition.

As anyone with even a hint of interest in the somewhat spurious trend of happiness ranking will know, Finland has topped the UN’s annual ‘World Happiness Report’ for the last eight years. With her exhibition, Koivu held a metaphorical smiley face up to the mirror (emojis and circus mirrors do feature in the show) and asked: ‘Can happiness be designed?’ In her self-reflective and far-reaching show, the answer appeared to be yes – though Koivu concluded her curator statement beautifully ambiguously with the answer: 'We think so.'

‘Happiness’ at Helsinki Design Week 2025

Readers may remember Koivu for her landmark ‘U-Joints’ show (co-curated with Andrea Caputo) from Milan Design Week in 2018, and her heroic deep dive into the prepping movement with ‘We Will Survive’ at Mudac in Lausanne in 2024. She is a fascinating, light-hearted and rigorous curator, and ‘Happiness’ followed suit with her characteristic taxonomic approach to the subject in question.

The exhibition occupied a series of rooms on the fourth floor of the 1911 Suomitalo building, which was this year’s hub for Helsinki Design Week. Various themes around happiness were explored in different rooms – health, community, music, nature, for instance. The themes were extrapolated into representative objects: some Finnish, some universal, some literal, some oblique, some cerebral, some pop-cultural. Each revealed something about happiness, and Koivu’s zippy, zesty captions held our hand throughout the journey – they were a joy.

The show was an uplifting romp, as one might expect. But happiness is a complex subject, paradoxical by its very nature, as Koivu pointed out in her opening statement: ‘[Happiness] is both deeply personal and undeniably collective,’ she wrote. ‘It cannot exist or be truly experienced without its opposite: sorrow, pain or discomfort.’

The counterpoint frequently raised by Finns themselves to deflect the glow of being so ruddy happy, is that the nation also has a remarkably high suicide rate, too. Speaking with Koivu at the show’s opening, she admitted to having found the subject matter a welcome relief – riotously fun, surely – after years’ spent digging into the murkier realm of survivalism for her previous project. ‘But where do you begin?’ she asked rhetorically. ‘There is so much that could be said, and has been said, about happiness – is it even worth taking seriously?’

In a word: yes. Happiness might not easily be measurable or definable in the stricter sense, but by god it is identifiable and relatable. It makes us feel human and alive, and brings us together, and we can learn from spotting, thinking, plotting. Trite though it sounds, happiness is powerful. It is needed right now, and it makes a fascinating lens through which to consider objects, familiar and unfamiliar, such as a chainsaw (for ice-cutting, for cold plunges) or sex toys.

A Jane Fonda fitness video sat near an orange fibreglass section of a bench from the Helsinki metro (‘We wanted to bring sunshine underground,’ said its designers Börje Rajalin and Antti Nurmesniemi in 1979). Seventy stories about the history of the smile, from 1700 BC up to the present day, graced a wall in one room. Local studio Company’s felt ‘Dance Shoes’, for small children to dance on their parents’ feet, were enduringly endearing, 20 years after they were discovered serendipitously when two shoe sketches happened to overlap each other. A happy accident, no less.

There were moments of profundity and poignancy too. Koivu relishes the cerebral corners and darker shadows, which happily avoided the show’s descending into saccharinity. We read that the Global Wellness Institute valued the wellness economy in 2023 at 5.4 trillion euros, and Koivu promptly pointed out that this industry thrives on unhappiness.

Drugs and products delivering endorphin rushes were dealt with as indicators of our tendencies as animals to choose a quick fix for feeling good, even at the expense of our future selves. Koivu ended the exhibition with a tongue-in-cheek bowl of pick-n-mix, asking visitors to take one for a quick sugar high if, after a whole show on happiness, they still needed cheering up. (Reader: I ate the sweets; a sign only of my love for candy, not my dissatisfaction with the show, I hasten to add.)

The exhibition design was by XPO, Koivu’s frequent collaborators, and was charming – turning silver-wrapped gift boxes into plinths, and suspending silver helium-filled balloons in the air with gift tags for exhibition texts. Anything less joyful might have jarred self-consciously – as it was, the shiny material united the disparate objects, lending a celebratory halo to proceedings.

Koivu commissioned ten designers to create pieces for the show. ‘It was interesting that for most of them, happiness means a working state of flow,’ Koivu reflected. ‘Being allowed to focus and detach within one’s work rather than escape it.’ It’s a salient point that recurred throughout the show: potential happiness can be found in much of life – frequently, we are our own obstacles. This is where design comes in handy – it can help us get over ourselves, whether to reduce our self-inflicted admin, give us a jolt of joy, or enliven us to feel childish, wild, unbounded, and animal.

As with both ‘U-Joints’ and ‘We Will Survive’, this first iteration of ‘Happiness’ will evolve and be shown again at Milan Design Week 2026. For Koivu, it offers a chance to continue the thinking and research, and to add more to an already riveting body of work. ‘I want to include a mushroom basket in Milan, definitely,’ she told me with a straight face. ‘It would have been far too obvious here in Finland, because we already know picking mushrooms is the real secret to a happy life,’ she laughed. Fungi – of course – the clue was in the name all along…

anniinakoivu.com
helsinkidesignweek.com

Also read Hugo Macdonald’s highlights of Helsinki Design Week 2025

There were two recurring themes for Helsinki Design Week this year: anniversaries and happiness. The first was an uncanny confluence of almost every person or brand in Finland’s design firmament seemingly celebrating a landmark anniversary – not least Helsinki Design Week itself, which turns 20 this year. Happiness was the subject of the main exhibition for design week, curated by Anniina Koivu, dissecting whether Finland’s designation as the world’s happiest country eight years in a row (according to the annual WEF report) might be attributable to design.

But happiness was to be found beyond Koivu’s exhibition in all nooks and crannies during design week, implicitly and explicitly. As Kari Korkman, founder of Helsinki Design Week said in his opening remarks, ‘I’m yet to meet a designer who is a pessimist, and in these times we are living through, I find it comforting to be surrounded by optimists.’ Amen. And happy birthday Helsinki Design Week – long may you continue showing the rest of the world and industry the positive and meaningful impact of design on life. After four days of berries and mushrooms in the autumn sunshine, here’s ten design highlights we took away from this year’s escapade.

10 highlights from Helsinki Design Week 2025

Habitare - Touch

Founded in 1970, Habitare is the leading furniture, design and interior fair in the Nordics. True to the Finns' greater ingrained appreciation of design as part of life, Habitare is a cultural event, as much as a commercial one. Attendees are more B2C than B2B than other Nordic design fairs, we are told.

This year’s theme was Touch and a striking – moving, even – installation at the heart of the fair by young, local architecture practice Collaboratorio was impressive. Celebrating natural materials, time-honoured techniques and construction methods, the installation was a pavilion made from 40 tonnes of rammed earth bricks that will be used to construct a summer house after the fair. Vast elm tree trunks and roots were positioned outside the pavilion structure, rescued from the construction site of JKMM’s addition to the National Museum of Finland in the city centre. The material exploration was a fascinating, visceral and grounding environment at the heart of a design fair where transience and commerce are dominant.

Habitare Talents

A highlight at Habitare (beyond Finnish stalwarts and personal favourites Nikari and Woodnotes) is the Talents and Protos curated exhibition, profiling emerging designers. Alongside Lennart Engels, who was one of our Material Alchemist exhibitors at Milan this year, we enjoyed the Kaamos lighting of Janne Pärssinen for its industrial, workshop charm; and the characterful language of Anton Mikkonen. Both names we will be keeping our eyes on in the future.

Design Museum announcement

Arguably the pinnacle of the week was the announcement of the winning practice, awarded the contract to design the city’s new Architecture and Design Museum on the Makasiiniranta car park area of the South Harbour. From more than 600 entrants to the anonymous competition, we were introduced to the shortlist of five finalists before the winner was announced. Local firm JKMM are the victors with their design ‘Kumma’, unanimously agreed upon by the jury – and even to attendant laypeople – their design was in a league of its own. Due to open in 2030, it promises to be a landmark home for design in every sense.

Aalto University

Another highlight of Helsinki Design Week is the trip to the Aalto Campus to take in the university’s annual ‘Designs for a Cooler Planet’ show. Aalto does a better job than the majority of other design education establishments at cross-pollinating expertise beyond subject silos, and ensuring business viability is part of the curriculum and agenda. This year we were introduced to fascinating projects including the Marvellous Materials book, encouraging children to experiment creatively with nature’s resources and household bio-waste. Aalto’s junior program counts an astonishing 33,000 students a year, in person and online for camps, courses and learning. Another success story is start-up Reverlast, turning discarded wind turbine blades into floating docks, including the nearby university Siipisauna – which helps prevent around 2.6 tonnes of carbon emissions alone.

Escape to Moominvalley

It’s 80 years since Tove Jansson first brought her Moomin universe to life. The Finnish Design Museum is celebrating with a landmark exhibition (opening on 10 October) that looks at how the architecture in Jansson’s own life inspired the architecture in Moominvalley. One of the core influences was Jansson’s summer island dwelling of Klovharun – a cabin with a sauna built underneath and into the rock on which it sits. Ahead of the exhibition’s opening, we were introduced to plans and drawings, including these wonderful sketches by Jansson, which posit her island life firmly in a Moomin-adjacent world.

Escape to Moominvalley opens on 10 October at the Architecture and Design Museum Helsinki

Finarte 40th anniversary

Eija Rasinmäki founded Finarte, elevating the Finnish rag rug tradition into a design house of great renown over 40 years. Rasinmäki is an astonishingly youthful 80 years old herself, and seemingly as active as ever, today with her daughter Larissa Immonen Sharma as CEO of the company. To celebrate 40 years of rug design and production, Rasinmäki has reintroduced pieces from the archive, and we are particularly taken with the Apollo design shown here.

Yrjö Kukkapuro’s house

We mourned the passing of the maverick Finnish furniture designer Yrjö Kukkapuro back in February, so we were delighted to pay a visit to his studio and see his daughter Isa and granddaughter Ida in full heart. The wonderful former studio and home of Kukkapuro is a parabolic concrete, steel and glass structure just outside Helsinki – stuffed to the brim with the designer’s furniture, books, drawings and a lifetime’s worth of ephemera. The home will be open to the public next year as a house museum. In the meantime, we were introduced to a beautiful new book by Isa, meticulously and imaginatively documenting her father’s legacy called ‘The Blue Door’. We were also shown Kukkapuro’s posthumous new collection of chairs for ‘senior people’ – the YK91 range, manufactured by Alastek.

Harri Koskinen

At Galerie Forsblom, Harri Koskinen’s show of freeform and mould-blown glass works proved to be a powerful and poetic demonstration of the designer’s mastery in the material. Fittingly titled magnitude, the show consists of a series of liquid-like glass monoliths, simultaneously minimal and magnificent in form and presence. We are more familiar with Koskinen’s utilitarian works for Iittala, but his artistic practice reveals a very different side to his skill and imagination, and we are here for it all.

JKMM’s National Museum of Finland extension

With hardhats, high vis, goggles and gloves (strangely) we were ushered around the very tidy and organised building site for JKMM’s ‘Atlas’ extension for the National Museum of Finland, which is set to open in Spring 2027. The original structure was built between 1901-1905 by Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen – the new pavilion appears modest at ground level, but connects underground, adding 1,100 sqm of flexible new exhibition space. Above ground, the modest 600 sqm pavilion has a soaring roof that appears to float on 5-metre high glass walls. The underside of the roof is clad in 5000 handmade ceramic tiles, tessellating in a very pleasing manner. JKMM clearly has a monopoly on cultural projects in Helsinki for good reason.

Aalto mania

Of course no trip to Helsinki or indeed Finland would be complete without a good dose of Aalto, and we headed to the Aalto House and Studio one sunny afternoon to revisit the source of so much of what we know today. It is beautiful and moving as ever – the Finns know how to look after their design legacy in a way that allows it to breathe without suffocatingly heavy handed conservation.

At the spectacularly refurbished Finlandia Hall (designed by Alvar Aalto and originally opened in 1971) there is a beautiful, rigorous and accessible exhibition about the Aaltos in the concert and congress building’s basement. It successfully opens one’s eyes to the human stories of Aino, Alvar and Elissa, while explaining the significance of their collective contribution to design in Finland and beyond. It was fitting that the last stop on our design week journey was at Artek, this year celebrating its 90^th anniversary with a string of gentle launches and reissues, including the charming and ethereal collaboration with Marimekko. We feel Alvar, Aino and Elissa would approve.

Home, as the saying goes, is where the heart is, and for Finnish-Karelian multidisciplinary artist and sculptor Anna Pesonen, that place will always be Finland. Though her creative career has taken her through Paris, Tokyo, Mallorca, and now London, the pull of home is strong. Best known as a stylist, image director and consultant for clients including Maison Margiela, Nike, and Rimowa, Pesonen recently extended her practice into sculpture, debuting Discourse: a marble series unveiled at Design Miami 2023. Last year (2024), a residency at Alvar Aalto’s Paimio Sanatorium brought her closer to her roots.

Born in Järvenpää, just outside Helsinki, Pesonen describes the Finnish capital as the ‘alternative little sister’ to other Nordic cities. ‘What I love about Helsinki is that while it’s very international and aware of what’s happening elsewhere, it still has its own distinct spirit,’ she says. The long, dark winters, she notes, are what fuel Finland’s creative depth: ‘They give us the time and space to imagine alternative worlds.’

It’s the city’s modern yet steeped in tradition, social yet contemplative personality that Pesonen finds most inspiring. ‘You have this amazing mix of nature at your doorstep, but also world-class music at clubs and institutions. You can eat classic Finnish dishes in 1930s modernist restaurants, where the old spirit lingers, or enjoy just about any cuisine you like. The pace is different, everything feels close by, and that makes me feel free.’

Here, she shares her favourite addresses – just in time for Helsinki Design Week 2025 (5-14 September) and beyond.

What to see and do in Helsinki, Anna Pesonen’s tips

Where to eat and drink

Ateljee Bar

‘Now that I’m a tourist in my own homeland, I love the classics even though we also have fantastic new places. Climbing the snug spiral staircase to this rooftop bar with 360-degree views of the city is an experience in its own; you often bump into a friend. My favourite part is that the atmosphere doesn’t feel pompous like bars at a height usually do.’

Ateljee Bar is located at Solo Sokos Hotel Torni, Yrjönkatu 26, 00100 Helsinki, Finland.

Kosmos

‘A family-run institution since 1924, Kosmos used to be a cultural hub for artists, writers, and politicians alike. When I return to Helsinki, I gravitate towards these kinds of unapologetically old-school restaurants – those which feel untouched by trends and where traditional Finnish food, art, and design converge. It feels very Kaurismäki-esque, similar to Elite and Sea Horse (also in town).’

Kosmos is located at Kalevankatu 3, 00100 Helsinki, Finland.

Putte’s Bar & Pizza

‘A great, relaxed restaurant for delicious pizza right in the centre of Helsinki. The walls are full of art, and the downstairs area sometimes turns into a club. I always go hoping to bump into my friend Antto (Melasniemi): chef, artist and owner.’

Putte’s Bar & Pizza is located at Kalevankatu 6, 00100 Helsinki, Finland

What to do

Cinema Orion

‘This is one of Helsinki’s oldest cinemas. Its beautiful art deco theatre makes visiting worthwhile even during a short stay in Helsinki. Cinema Orion screens international arthouse films and showcases Finnish films that struggle to gain distribution elsewhere. They recently had a film programme curated for each star sign, which I loved.’

Cinema Orion is located at Eerikinkatu 15, 00100 Helsinki, Finland.

Kulttuurisauna

‘Saunas are a daily part of life for Finns, but I notice the essence of this ritual being diluted abroad – phones, chatter, or loud music aren’t part of it. Hearing the silence and letting your mind wander is what matters. Kulttuurisauna, a minimalist public sauna, offers a great way to experience authentic, modern Finnish sauna culture in the city centre. It sits on the edge of Merihaka – a 1970s brutalist housing district, which itself is worth a visit for any concrete lovers.’

Kulttuurisauna is located at Hakaniemenranta 17, 00530 Helsinki, Finland.

Sibelius Monument

‘In 1967, Eila Hiltunen (a fellow Finnish-Karelian sculptor) unveiled a sculpture for the late composer Jean Sibelius, which feels especially meaningful to me. Sibelius once lived by the same lake where I grew up, and he helped build the artist community that shaped my childhood. Nearby, there’s a cosy café and some buildings with amazing ‘funkkis’ decorations on their façades.’

Sibelius Monument is located at Sibeliuksen puisto, Mechelininkatu, 00250 Helsinki, Finland.

SIC

‘As part of the city’s Drifts Festival 2025, I’m participating in a group exhibition at SIC Gallery. My latest work, Heed the Echoes of the Forgotten, will be on view there until 10 September. The sculptor is dedicated to the preservation of kelkettely, an endangered Karelian vocal tradition.’

SIC is located at Vanha Helsingintie 24, 00700 Helsinki, Finland.

Temppeliaukio Church

'This round iconic church, built directly into solid bedrock, is one of my favourite spaces in Helsinki. I love the light, the organ and the violet-blue pews, which I used to think felt so out of place there. I used to live around the corner and often hung out on the rocks above the church; from there, you see its sculptural form from a new perspective.'

Temppeliaukio Church is located at Lutherinkatu 3, 00100 Helsinki, Finland.

Where to shop

Kruuna

‘Antique shop Kruuna offers a great selection of Finnish design, including ceramics and glassware from iconic designers like Tapio Wirkkala, as well as some internationally lesser-known artists such as Kyllikki Salmenhaara and Paavo Tynell.’

Kruuna is located at Maurinkatu 8-12, 00170 Helsinki, Finland.

Théhuone

‘I go to Théhuone to stock up on tea as they have a selection of 400 varieties. There’s also a small cafe with a tatami within the shop.’

Théhuone is located at Eerikinkatu 10, 00100 Helsinki, Finland.

annapesonen.com

From the Japanese Genmaicha dotted with popped brown rice to the time-consuming but deliciously foamy West African Ataya, the world of tea is truly full of wonders. And it’s certainly not stuck in time: today, a new generation is discovering the beauty of bright-green matcha and fragrant masala chai. For her latest book, 150 Tea Houses You Need to Visit Before You Die, writer and editor Léa Teuscher – a long-time Wallpaper* staffer – explores what’s brewing, whether it’s in a cool café in Istanbul, a historic tea plantation in Darjeeling, an elegant hotel in London or a beautiful Kyoto ochaya. Here she picks ten tea houses serving great drinks and homemade blends in elegant, often architect-designed spaces, around the world.

Ten contemporary tea houses to visit now

Basao Tea, Xiamen

Designed by Norm Architects, this beautiful minimalist space is the flagship tea room of Basao Tea, a brand established in 2011 in Xiamen, Fujian. It is named after a Japanese zen monk who once wrote: ‘Having learned the ways of silence, within the noise of urban life, I take life as it comes to me, and everywhere I am is true.’ Its pared-back space aims to help visitors enjoy quiet contemplation and the calming sounds of tea being prepared, poured and enjoyed. Sit at the large stone tea counter to take part in a Chinese gongfu tea ceremony, or learn about more contemporary ways of tea making, like Basao’s nitrogen-infused cold brews. The tea sommeliers can also guide you through the company’s collection, which ranges from hand-rolled Nepali tips to Hangzhou’s ‘dragon well’ tea. Basao also has branches in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Basao Tea is located at 8 Jianye RdSi Ming Qu, Xia Men Shi, Fu Jian Sheng, China; @basaotea

Bellocq Tea Atelier, New York

Bellocq is known for its single-estate full-leaf teas and signature botanical blends, as well as its famous yellow tea caddies now found in the tea rooms of some of the world’s leading brands, from Tiffany & Co to Cartier. Designed by co-founder Heidi Johannsen Stewart, and her husband, architect Scott Stewart, its studio and tea room is located in a brick warehouse in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint, and celebrates the luxury of taking time to enjoy a fine cup of tea. Distilling inspiration from botanical traditions while embracing innovation, the brand focuses on sustainable production practices, sourcing teas from exceptional gardens that reflect the unique terroirs of China, Japan, Taiwan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India and South Africa. Bellocq’s Earl Grey, for example, is made with an exceptional base leaf and, uniquely, the essence of Sicilian bergamot extracted from the entire fruit.

Bellocq Tea Atelier is located at 104 West St, Brooklyn, NY 11222, United States; bellocqtea.com

Cafe Svenskt Tenn, Stockholm

Leading Swedish interiors brand Svenskt Tenn was founded in 1924 by Estrid Ericson, an entrepreneur and a great tea lover who is said to have drunk five cups of tea every day. Fittingly, the brand’s beautiful shop in central Stockholm is also home to a café serving a wide range of teas, with everything from delicate, grassy Japanese green teas and Indian Darjeeling, to its own flavoured blend of Chinese keemun/Yunnan. The teas were selected by chef Petter Nilsson’s team at Petri, a fine dining restaurant that is known for its focus on tea pairings, so expect some pretty special drinks here, such as rare jungle teas from the Monsoon Tea Wat Ket in Thailand and Dongfang meiren (‘Oriental beauty’) from Nantou County in Taiwan. These can be accompanied by dishes such as smoked salmon on French toast, or rhubarb cheesecake, canelés and chestnut tartlets.

Café Svenskt Tenn is located at Strandvägen 5, 114 51 Stockholm, Sweden; svenskttenn.com

Casa de Chá, Brasilia

Designed between 1965 and 1966 by legendary architect Oscar Niemeyer, the Casa de Chá was conceived as a meeting point on the monumental Three Powers Plaza, the site of the three branches of the Brazilian government. It is a unique spot with floor-to-ceiling windows hiding under a long flat white roof, in the great modernist architecture tradition. Inside, you will find classic pieces such as Jean Gillon armchairs and a menu by local chef Gil Guimarães. Drinks include Itamaraty Chai (black tea with star anise, cloves and pepper), a house maté, and the Congresso infusion, with hibiscus, apple, clove and cinnamon. We’d recommend sampling these with a slice of corn cake or, if really hungry, a Niemeyer tartine with Parma ham and umbu jelly. Refurbished in 2019 by Bloco Arquitetos, the café is actually part of the local university and a training ground for its hospitality students.

Casa de Chá is located at Praça dos Três Poderes Três Praça dos Três Poderes - Brasilia, DF, 70802-140, Brazil; @casadecha.df.senac.br

Ksana matcha, Bangkok

Located in cosmopolitan Pathum Wan, this cave-like specialist matcha tea room offers a unique haven of tranquillity away from chaotic central Bangkok. Sourced from Japanese heritage farms in Uji and leading tea estates in Shizuoka, the powdered green tea is served here on simple wooden tables in a cocooning white cave designed by local practice JUTI architects. Ksana matcha uses the finest-quality tea leaves to create four teas, including Coastal Breeze, with umami flavours that evoke the fresh serenity of a coastal morning, and Smoky Peaks, a hōjicha with a hint of hickory. Also on the menu are traditional Japanese wagashi sweets, such as yuzu and yokan jelly. Ksana has just opened an equally slick new outpost in the nearby Central World mall.

Ksana Matcha is located at 2nd Floor, One City Centre, Unit R2-02, 548 Phloen Chit Rd, Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand; ksanamatcha.com

Osulloc Tea Museum, Jeju

Set on an organic tea farm on the island of Jeju in South Korea, this stylish tea room and museum designed by Seoul-based practice Mass Studies was set up by the South Korean brand Osulloc, which started growing tea here only in 1979, after painstakingly transforming the rocky land into tea fields. It has since won a string of prestigious prizes for its teas, including Illohyang, a first-flush green tea handpicked in early April, and Sejac, the brand’s signature green tea. You can try them at the museum’s teahouse, which also serves blended teas, such as Samdayeon Jeju Tangerine, and lots of pretty tea-flavoured treats, such as matcha tiramisu and Jeju green tea cheesecake. Osulloc also has teahouses in Seoul, including a flagship location in the Bukchon district.

Osulloc Tea Museum is located at 15 Sinhwayeoksa-ro, Andeok-myeon, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do, South Korea; us.osulloc.com

Oxi Tea Room, Melbourne

Known for its exquisitely detailed themed afternoon teas, this serene tea room in downtown Melbourne celebrates the tea terroirs of Kenya and Taiwan, the home countries of owners Mehboob and Andy. From Kenya come teas such as Nandi Gold, a fruity black tea with hints of roasted hazelnuts, while from Taiwan are sourced crisp Alishan and delicate dong ding oolongs. The 30 premium whole-leaf teas are paired with meticulously crafted menus, and an interactive app guides diners through a culinary journey, revealing the stories behind each dish. Designed by local practice Alta Architecture, Oxi Tea Room is well known for its themed afternoon teas, with past inspirations ranging from local honeys to artists such as Yayoi Kusama. All feature pastry chef Johnny Ping’s eye-catching creations, including surprising bites such as cheesecake with plum, blueberry and tofu.

Oxi Tea Room is located at T4/158 Victoria St, Carlton VIC 3053, Australia; oxitea.com.au

Steep LA

Located in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, this teahouse, bar and eatery was co-founded by Samuel Wang and Lydia Lin, for whom tea is a family tradition. While Samuel grew up drinking oolong with his dad, Lydia’s favourite is pu-erh tea, which her family enjoys while eating dim sum. Their menu focuses on premium teas handpicked from China and Taiwan, which cover five out of six major Chinese tea categories: black, green, white, oolong and pu-erh – the latter including a refreshing Green Tangerine tea with notes of citrus and freshly cut grass. Come 5pm, Steep LA introduces its After Dark program, offering tea-infused cocktails such as Winter’s Whisper, with Jiaziyuan oolong tea. There is also a food menu with noodle bowls and snacks and a boutique selling pieces by local designers and craft makers.

Steep LA is located at 970 N Broadway #112, Los Angeles, CA 90012, United States; steepla.com

Théhuone, Helsinki

As you’d expect for a boutique and tea room located in the Design District, the décor at Théhuone is pure Scandinavian minimalism. Tea is served in sleek white porcelain cups and transparent teapots, which are perfect to watch flowering teas unfurl. There’s only a handful of tables and a seating area with floor cushions by the window from which to enjoy a selection of over 400 teas, carefully selected by sisters Nina and Nea, who founded the tea room in 2005. Flavoured teas such as classic Earl Grey and cherry-flavoured Sencha Sakura are particularly popular here, as are rare pu-erh varieties from Yunnan and the finest oolong teas from Taiwan. In keeping with the pared-back décor by local studio Pure Design, which lets the teas do the talking, there is no food menu – but drinks do come with little biscuits, mochis or a piece of green tea chocolate on the side.

Théhuone is located at Eerikinkatu 10, 00100 Helsinki, Finland; thehuone.com

To Tsai, Athens

Owned by specialist Ceylon tea importer Mlesna, To Tsai opened its doors in 1993. Inspired by Japanese architecture, the sleek space by Georges Batzios Architects is divided into a boutique and a tea room, where tea is served in a variety of teapots (porcelain, cast iron or clay) depending on its origin. It’s a real treasure trove of hard-to-find teas, such as an organic orange pekoe, grown near Etseri in the mountains of Georgia, and mastic tea, a tea flavoured with natural mastic oil (a key Greek ingredient), from Dimbula, Sri Lanka. Another local favourite is mountain tea, or Sideritis scardica, grown on an organic farm on Mount Olympus – a delicious infusion with notes of mint, chamomile and citrus.

To Tsai is located at Al. Soutsou 19, Athens 106 71, Greece; tea.gr

The UN World Happiness Report is released annually in March, and Finland is something of a fixture at the top of the table. The Scandinavian nation has been designated the happiest in the world for the last eight years, leading us to wonder: what formula has it perfected that makes its inhabitants so content?

To collate the World Happiness Report the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford asks a sample group from 140 countries to rate how good their life is, from one to ten. Fins averaged a score of 7.736. The study credits things like access to nature and strong social support as contributing factors to the score, while Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, says his nation’s happiness rests on the three pillars of nature, trust and education. But Fins also benefit from a good outlook, living their lives (as lore has it) by the philosophy of ‘sisu’, which translates as ‘grit’, ‘determination’ or ‘resilience’.

From where we’re standing, Finland has a lot to shout about, home to an ever-growing cohort of design-led hotels (and their idyllic spas), unique restaurants and pioneering cultural institutions. Here, we shine a light on where to stay, eat and go when visiting this Nordic nation for your best chance of imbibing some Finnish cheer.

The hotel: Solo Sokos Pier 4

Helsinki’s new arrival, designed by local studio Anttinen Oiva Architects, is constructed completely from timber. The ‘sustainable space’, which is situated within the city’s harbour's Katajanokan Laituri, boasts proximity to nature, uses domestic raw materials, and shares a building with the headquarters of Finnish forestry company Stora Enso. Wallpaper* recently spent the night at 164-room Solo Sokos Pier 4, reporting a soothing ambience permeated by the smell of pine and enhanced by the beauty of the Finnish seascape.

sokoshotels.fi

The restaurant: Finlandia Bistro

Finlandia Hall, built by Finnish modernist icon Alvar Aalto in 1971, has become a national landmark. The concert and congress venue, located in Helsinki’s Töölö Bay, has recently undergone a refresh, including the opening of Finlandia Hall Bistro, which allows diners to eat in surroundings that nod to Aalto’s heritage. Moody, cocooning interiors by Fyra are dressed with modernist pieces as well as contemporary items by the Finnish Design Shop. The food is also a tribute to Finnish craftsmanship, this time of the gastronomic variety, platforming local ingredients and flavours.

finlandiatalo.fi

The bar: Jackie

Set in the heart of Punavuori, Helsinki, stepping into Jackie is like stepping back in time. The space is steeped in the design language of the 1960s and 1970s; designer Joanna Laajisto was apparently given a playlist of Italian lounge and French disco music to inspire her. Come here for pizza until 11pm and drinks until 3am on weekends, when DJs play vintage-inspired hits in the sophisticated setting, all leather upholstery and walnut furniture.

jackie.fi

The spa: Panorama Landscape Hotel and Forest Spa

A couple of things spring to mind when one thinks about Finland, and one of them is rolling around in the snow (after heating yourself to boiling point in a sauna, of course). A particularly good place to do this is the Lähde Forest Spa at the Panorama Landscape Hotel, home to three saunas and five hot and cold pools fed by a natural spring with views over Lake Syväri. The hotel’s striking suites are designed by Finnish architect Sami Rintala, and blend into the bewitching landscape of Tahko in eastern Finland.

panoramahotel.fi

The museum: Sara Hildén Art Museum

This gallery is a fixture in the Finnish city of Tampere. It hosts a revolving door of exhibitions (such as Jean-Michel Othoniel’s solo show in 2024 and, showing until 18 May 2025, a retrospective of Finnish painter Heikki Marila) with a focus on international modern and contemporary art, as well as the permanent collection of the Sara Hildén Foundation, which contains more than 5,000 works including those by Joan Miró, Francis Bacon, Paul Klee and Alberto Giacometti. The building is an attraction in itself, designed by Pekka Ilveskoski Architects in 1979 on the beautiful shores of Lake Näsijärvi.

sarahildenintaidemuseo.fi

The two Finlandia Hall apartments have been restored to their former glory –so if you always dreamt of spending the night at an Alvar Aalto modernist architecture masterpiece, now is your chance. Launched as Finlandia Homes, the two properties within the Finnish master's epic Finlandia Hall were recently reopened, following a meticulous and sustainable architecture makeover that won the building a Wallpaper* Design Award. They are now bookable, offering tantalising stays in midcentury style.

Stay at the modernist Finlandia Hall apartments: welcome to Finlandia Homes

Part of the project to sustainably revitalise the iconic piece of 20th-century architecture, Finlandia homes saw the apartment interiors thoroughly refreshed. Elements that were lost or replaced over the decades were now reconstructed to Aalto's original designs. This includes fixtures and built-in areas, such as the wardrobes.

At the same time, the specialists at the Finnish Design Shop swooped in and dressed the interior with the modernist goodies that best complement the space's original character – elevating the interiors. Across the two properties, there are: a Hay’s ‘Kofi’ coffee table, Lundia’s ‘Classic’ display cabinet, &Tradition’s ‘Flowerpot’ lamps, Finarte’s ‘Palsta’ cushions, and the Lucius candleholder was designed by Company, among many others.

Located overlooking the adjacent Hesperia Park, Finlandia Homes were named after Aalto’s two wives – architect Aino Aalto (1894–1949) and architect Elissa Aalto (1922–1994) – and are titled 'Aino' and 'Elissa' respectively.

Artworks in both residences, like the furniture, were hand-picked. 'The artworks, sourced from HAM (Helsinki Art Museum), were selected to reflect the perceived personalities of Aino and Elissa as they have been passed down through generations. The art in the Aino apartment is more subdued and features blue tones, while the Elissa apartment showcases bolder, red-toned pieces,' says Finlandia Hall's Riitta Kilo in an interview to the Finnish Design Shop team.

finlandiatalo.fi

The Finlandia Hall bistro has opened its doors, offering visitors to the modernist architecture marvel by Alvar Aalto an important foodie dimension – allowing Finlandia Hall guests the opportunity to eat among sophisticated environs that elegantly nod to the master's design legacy.

Dining at the Finlandia Hall bistro

Subtly contrasting with the hall's open, bright and airy spaces and predominantly light colours, the bistro is cocooned warmly in moody, darker tones, wrapped in soft fabrics and tactile textures. Its interior, designed by specialist agency Fyra and dressed in a mix of pieces that blend Finnish modernist heritage and contemporary items by the Finnish Design Shop, as well as some bespoke, purpose-made, built-in elements, pays clear homage to Aalto's architecture.

Finlandia Hall's cobalt blue elements are echoed in the bistro's deep blue curtains, while wood and brass elements nod to modernist styles. Key examples of furniture include the portable ‘Como’ table lamp by &Tradition, new Artek lighting, and Iittala’s ‘Nappula’ candleholders.

The designers at Fyra write: 'The furniture, textiles, and lighting work complete the ambience, with the preserved surfaces serving as a foundation for the design. A central focal point is the extensive bar top, anchoring the space. A curved, upholstered sofa element divides the area, while the use of textiles adds softness, enhances acoustics, and fosters an inviting atmosphere.'

The food offering is led by head chef Mikko Puuronen, sous chef Juho Lindström, and restaurant manager Mirva Heino. The 64-seat restaurant entices with an a la carte menu filled with Finnish and wider, Nordic-inspired dishes. It blends local flavours with Italian, French, and Spanish cuisines – just as Aalto did with his architectural references for the overall building.

The warming rainbow trout soup, followed by the blueberry and white chocolate parfait makes for the perfect experience – combining comfort and indulgence with a strong sense of place.

Fyra is also behind Finlandia Hall's new shop with its custom-made new furniture, and the café on the ground level. Its pastry and sweets menu is matched by its long views of the nearby Töölönlahti Bay.

finlandiatalo.fi

Stepping inside the timber hotel Solo Sokos Pier 4, a delicate fragrance reminiscent of Finnish forests gently hits. The new Helsinki hotel certainly makes good on its sustainable architecture's unspoken promise. The refreshing scent of a box-fresh wooden design? Check. A calm and soothing, wall-to-wall environment in timber? Check. Birdsong subtly humming in the background? Check, check, check. Indeed, as cliché as such features may sound in the context of the building's wood architecture, its environment is everything you expect it to be in the best possible way.

A night at a timber hotel: experiencing Solo Sokos Pier 4

The new player in the Finnish capital's hospitality scene is situated within the Helsinki harbour's Katajanokan Laituri, a recently opened timber-framed building designed by local studio Anttinen Oiva Architects. It contains the headquarters of Finnish forestry company Stora Enso on one end and the 164-room Solo Sokos Pier 4 Hotel on the other – both span four floors.

The round, timber gymnastics of the lobby area – which is shared between hotel and office space – and the overall spatial planning is the work of Anttinen Oiva, but hotel spaces, such as hotel rooms, a separate restaurant, and conference facilities, were created by interiors outfit Franz Design. Not that you could immediately tell, as the envelope and its contents were carefully curated to work seamlessly, following the theme of natural wood and light, neutral tones throughout.

A specially created signature scent is present throughout the hotel. The rooms are minimalist, and the walls – alternating glazing and wood – are punctuated by specially selected pieces by local artists. A well stocked, curated fridge places an emphasis on sense of place (beer from a Turku brewery and blueberry juice make this an unmistakeably Finnish experience).

A café off the main lobby and the Harbore restaurant on the opposite side of the building (also where the hotel breakfast is served) enjoy expansive waterside views. Once the ongoing works on the seaside promenade just outside are completed, guests will be able to enjoy the simple, seasonal Nordic and Finnish ingredient mix on the menu with a backdrop of the nearby port's majestic ferries and people on leisurely strolls, making this an ideal spot for a drink outside during the mild summer months.

A rooftop terrace offers more outdoor space, with a planted garden and a dedicated bar. Meanwhile, on the lower ground floor, a gym is accompanied by a flexible wellness space. Eschewing rigid booking systems and classes (those are on offer as well, however, if needed), guests can pop in for an independent yoga or meditation session – or to enjoy the most Finnish of pastimes, a sauna.

The ground floor's state-of-the-art conference facilities make this a flexible destination – equally open to business and family travel. This timber hotel's sense of luxury lies in its sustainable, design-led origins – an element Solo Sokos Pier 4 is rightly proud of.

sokoshotels.fi

It feels like the past year was one of reassessment. In fact, the prefix ‘re’ seems to be popping up in project descriptions and initiatives the world over, with architects rethinking, restructuring, refitting and reimagining, aiming to restore, rebalance and renew the built environment and the way we live. Perhaps this is nothing new and indeed the entire purpose of architecture – to transform lives. Or perhaps this is felt more acutely now than ever, as big, ongoing debates on critical global topics (sustainability, equality, inclusion) and dramatic recent world events (pandemic, war and political turbulence) have sparked an urge in us all to hit refresh.

An overarching need for repair and reinvention is sparking simultaneously a speeding up and a slowing down of action on various fronts, as signalled in some key new projects that are primed to set the mood for 2025 – as part of an era of powerful, yet gentle statements.

Wallpaper’s Ellie Stathaki delves into what defined the 2025 Wallpaper* Architecture Awards

Wellbeing and restorative strategies are increasingly coming to the forefront of our efforts to nurture people, places, and souls. In this context, connecting with nature is steadily rising to the top of the priority list for many. For some, this might take the form of experiencing open spaces and the wild outdoors or seeking solitude and retreat, where one can focus on views, nature and oneself. Protecting and preserving said nature is an arm of this practice, boldly delivered through an entirely new arboretum in Belgium’s Marche-en-Famenne.

This trend can also bring out the desire to escape; here holiday homes, from the archetypal, simple cabin to more luxurious, contemporary guest houses, have always had this allure, often used as shorthand for the desire to leave the world’s problems behind and go into cocoon mode to refocus and hopefully, reach inspired solutions. Few projects embody this sentiment better than Halifax architect Brian MacKay-Lyons’ El Aleph, a building that is ‘silent, but with more to say’ on the ragged Canadian coast.

Of course, it would be naive to suggest that we should all forego the buzz of urban living and become solitary nature explorers. Cities and their myriad offerings present a different kind of ecosystem but one that’s equally important to develop and grow, blending the urban condition’s multiple layers and facets, while prioritising residents’ (human and otherwise) well-being.

Pausing to breathe and sync with the elements can happen here too, and doing so is not a mere ‘bonus’ any longer – but a necessity. The case of Rotterdam, The Netherlands’ second largest metropolitan area (but at a couple of million, still relatively small, compared to the world’s megalopolises) brings an interesting and refreshing approach to the global stage. How can this industrial, modern, growing city incorporate sustainable attitudes and intentions? The answer seems to be through several initiatives, all happening simultaneously, taking action at different scales while playing the long game.

This rethinking of our built environment also translates to the smaller scale and existing buildings. Our rich legacy of 20th-century treasures, many of which are now steadily becoming in urgent need of a refresh, is an interesting topic to explore in this light. What does the legacy of modernism mean for the 21st century, and where does it fit into our current needs and wider zeitgeist? We certainly do not need to reject the past altogether – but rather, make it work in a way that responds to the needs of today.

Helsinki’s Finlandia Hall, a listed, landmark project by Finnish modernist Alvar Aalto, responds to this with a dramatic restoration – yet a subtle one, which you may not even notice if you are simply walking past it. Opening in January 2025, the building has been delicately transformed in its accessibility and energy efficiency, while painstakingly and faithfully updating the monument’s fabric where needed.

Meanwhile, tackling the other end of the spectrum of the life of a building, Limbo Accra has launched its first physical museum - Limbo Museum - in the Ghanaian capital tasked with examining the African continent’s unfinished buildings, what they mean, and the role of these ‘ruins’ in our cities.

Architecture is a notoriously slow-moving beast, but if these projects are any indication, there is plenty to be hopeful about for 2025. And there’s plenty to be looking out for too, as after a pandemic lull, a slew of key new cultural openings are now on the horizon for the new year – including (but not limited to) the Yale Centre of British Arts’ reopening post-restoration in New Haven; the Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture by Asif Khan in Almaty, Kazakhstan; the Frick Collection’s reimagining by Selldorf Architects in New York; the 2025 Expo Osaka; ; and Jean Nouvel’s new Fondation Cartier in Paris.

At the same time, the human dynamic seems to be changing too, thanks to digital technology. As architect and academic Lesley Lokko puts it in her essay about taking stock and looking forward to the next year, ‘newer, younger, “other” voices are bursting onto the scene and there is a generosity in the cultural zeitgeist that I find really inspiring.’ To move forward, this injection of fresh thinking is just what we need.

Best Modernist Revival

Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, Finland

Modernist architecture master Alvar Aalto's design for Finlandia Hall, a large concert and congress venue in Helsinki’s Töölö Bay, was built in 1971. It has since become a landmark, not only for its architect’s oeuvre but also for the city and Finland’s wider cultural scene. By 2019, nearly fifty years after its creation, Finlandia Hall was due a refresh. Now a listed monument and beloved city icon, Finlandia Hall has been refreshed by Arkkitehdit NRT, deeply yet delicately restoring its fabric and functions set to bring it to the 21st century.

Best Retreat

El Aleph Guest House by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple, Canada

‘Elemental’ seems to be an understatement for El Aleph and its site, which feels mesmerizingly wild and open to the weather. The project was a perfect fit for MacKay-Lyons, whose studio is known for crafting quiet buildings with a strong presence and a story to tell. ‘When you’re there, it feels like you’re alone in the world,’ says the architect. ‘You can see the other structures but it’s a long journey from anywhere, it’s remote and dangerous, as well as spiritual, so it’s the perfect place to feel the solitude and be in tune with nature.’

Best Urban Rethink

Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Rotterdam has been changing, responding to the worldwide climate emergency, its intense densification in the past 15 years, its location on the mouth of the River Rhine, and the gradual move of its enormous port to a site further outside its main urban core towards the sea. Now, a range of new initiatives and live projects prove that this extremely architecturally active city has sprung straight into action in the face of these difficulties. As part of the country’s recently announced ‘New Dutch’ movement, a platform that focuses on its 21st-century innovation, Rotterdam has generated a wealth of schemes that aim to safeguard the city’s longevity and health - both in terms of its urban fabric and inhabitants.

Best Landscape

Marche Arboretum, Belgium

A new plant ‘museum’ has opened in Marche-en-Famenne, in the region of Wallonia. The site, Marche Arboretum, which has been many years in the making, includes a new visitor centre by local studio AW architectes. Marche-en-Famenne is the second scheme of its kind initiated by businessman and dendrologist Philippe de Spoelberch, who started informally planting trees in his family estate in Wespelaar, Flanders in 1966. An extension to an initial 10ha in 1986 allowed him to further his collection. The entire 20-ha extension was donated in 2003 to a dedicated foundation, the Stichting Arboretum Wespelaar - which is now behind Marche Arboretum.

Best Architectural Legacy

Limbo Museum, Ghana

Limbo Accra’s transformative approach to architecture redefines what it means to engage with the built environment - and their latest project, Limbo Museum, has just opened in collaboration with curator Diallo Simon-Ponte and architect Lennart Wolff,. By repairing and reimagining unfinished spaces, the studio creates dynamic platforms for dialogue, creativity and community, resulting in a new legacy for overlooked structures. Ultimately, Limbo Accra’s work reminds us that within every building skeleton lies the potential for new beginnings. 

All of the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2025 winners will be celebrated online over the coming month and are featured in full in the February 2025 issue of Wallpaper* , available in print on newsstands from 9 January 2025, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

One summer in the 1990s, I went to see the work of Alvar Aalto in Finland, on a sort of pilgrimage. I was a young architecture writer at the time, then married to a young architect; many architects and design enthusiasts continue to do this today. The Finnish modernist architecture master’s buildings have such a profound connection to their location that it feels important to experience them in person and to be immersed in the landscape that inspired them.

I was particularly moved by visiting Säynätsalo Town Hall (1949–52) just outside Jyväskylä in central Finland. This intimate, yet proudly civic building seems to have merged with the landscape: grass grows on the steps leading up to the entrance and the building wraps around a small courtyard as if it were putting a warm arm around you.

Alvar Aalto: a brief history

It is Aalto’s combination of modernist vision with a sensitivity to nature and humanity that defines him as an architect. Unlike many Modernist architects whose reputations have ebbed and flowed, Aalto’s work has never fallen out of fashion and has been a constant influence, from his early projects in the 1930s through to his death in 1976. Born on 3 February 1898 in Kuortane, Finland, he studied architecture at the Helsinki University of Technology, graduating in 1921. Early in his career, Aalto worked in various architectural firms and began developing his distinctive approach, blending functionalism with organic, human-centred design.

In 1929 he joined the important Modernist organisation CIAM and went to the second congress in Frankfurt where he met older architects such as Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and László Moholy-Nagy. But in the same year he won a competition for the Palmio Sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis and already started to break away from strict Rationalist principles by defining his own approach, exploring the psychological impact of architecture on vulnerable people by prioritising comfort, light and nature.

Palmio, which is now a heritage centre, was completed in 1933 and is also notable because it shows Aalto extending his vision to every detail of the building including interior equipment, furniture, lamps, door handles, glassware and porcelain. Curved tubular steel was the material of choice for Modernists such as Marcel Breuer, but Aalto used the Palmio project to develop his interest in timber, a material that was all around him in Finland and had a warmth that softened the interior.

In the late 1920s he had developed a technique of compression-moulding laminated wood in collaboration with master joiner Otto Korhonen at his furniture factory in Turku. The first chair he developed in 1929 had a moulded plywood back with steel legs, but in 1933 he went a step further to produce a chair entirely made from bent plywood, the Palmio Chair which was specially designed for the Sanatorium.

Aalto was a great collaborator and worked closely with his first wife, Aino Marsio, who was also an architect, until her death in 1949. In 1952, he married his second wife, Elissa Mäkiniemi, a designer and architect who led projects in the Aalto office including Säynätsalo Town Hall. He also worked with Finnish designer Oiva Toikka on glassware and with various craftsmen to integrate custom-designed furniture and textiles into his architectural spaces. In 1935, in partnership with Aino Aalto, Maire Gullichsen and Nils-Gustav Hahl, Aalto founded Artek to promote his furniture designs and Modernist principles. The company, which is today owned by Swiss furniture company Vitra, became a platform for Aalto’s iconic pieces, like the bent plywood chairs, and played a crucial role in advancing Finnish design internationally.

Aalto’s work has influenced numerous architects, including Tadao Ando, Sverre Fehn, and Jørn Utzon. Finnish architect and theorist Juhani Pallasmaa has written extensively about him and has said that ‘Aalto's architecture is not just a matter of form and function, it is a question of emotion’. It is the emotional connection forged with his work, whether a building, a wooden stool or a glass vase, that makes Aalto’s work as contemporary as it was nearly a century ago.

Alvar Aalto: Key works

Paimio Sanatorium (1933)

A legendary piece of Finnish modernist architecture, Piamio is now open to overnight guests. In keeping with Alvar Aalto’s vision for his landmark sanitorium, built in 1932 as a tuberculosis clinic, most rooms have single beds and en suite bathrooms, and guests eat homegrown food in the canteen. The rooms are the first stage of a renovation that will include a museum, event and exhibition space, and a further 140 rooms. It was a groundbreaking project when it first opened and remains a key example of wellness architecture to this day.

Savoy Restaurant (1937)

This Helsinki culinary classic was commissioned by two of furniture company Artek's co-founders, Ahlström's CEO Harry Gullichsen and his wife Maire Gullichsen. They went to Alvar Aalto and his wife Aino for the interior, which are now listed – while the food on offer is now led by renowned Finnish Chef Helena Puolakka. The space is located on the top two floors of a house built by the Ahlström family back in 1937.

Villa Mairea (1939)

In 1939, Aalto – in collaboration with his wife, Aino – designed Villa Mairea, an experimental private home in rural southwestern Finland. In its grounds, he integrated a kidney-shaped concrete swimming pool that has since become iconic – thought to be the first kidney-shaped pool in the world. It was unusual for its free-flowing form, curved bowl basin, and lack of any sharp angles or corners.

House of Culture (1958)

The midcentury gem that is the House of Culture in Helsinki is one of Alvar Aalto's masterpieces – an iconic event space conceived as a place for performance and the arts and imbued with the modernist architecture master's signature organic curves, sensitivity and use of brick. Completed in 1958 and an icon in architecture history, the place has seen gigs by the who-is-who of 20th-century music, including Queen and Led Zeppelin. Over the years, however, it fell in need of a refresh - and now, this landmark piece of architecture has got a new lease of life by a team led by Design Agency Fyra and including established Finnish architects JKMM, who worked on the interiors, for client ASM Global Finland, its new operator.

Aalto University (Aalto University Campus) (1950s–1960s)

Named after the famous modernist, the university's original campus layout in Otaniemi, outside Helsinki, was designed by Aalto and his first wife Aino Aalto (1894-1949) - but the main building of the former Helsinki University of Technology on the Otaniemi campus was created with his second wife Elissa Aalto (1922-1994). Its use of red brick was bold at the time, and references old Finnish industrial architecture. Its characteristic Assembly Hall, with its rounded shape and organic, soft lines in the interior of the auditorium is an Aalto classic.

Finlandia Hall (1971)

Finlandia Hall is a large concert and congress venue in Helsinki’s Töölö Bay, built in 1971. It has since become a landmark, not only for its architect’s oeuvre but also for the city and Finland’s wider cultural scene. When Aalto conceived this public project in the early 1960s, it was part of a wider masterplan of its bay area. Most of it never materialised, but the hall did, clad in marble, inspired by Venetian Palaces and the ancient architecture of Italy and Greece – coupled with the boldness and futuristic outlook of its modernist architecture genre.

We’ve reached the point in tech history where early mobile phones are little more than museum pieces, alien and strange to today’s consumers for their absence of function and unconventional form. Throughout the first phase of mobile history, the company that was king of formal invention and bold new ideas was Finland’s Nokia.

Now the Aalto University in Helsinki has launched the Nokia Design Archive, an online portal that lays bare two decades of the company’s history, including hitherto unseen sketches, concepts and marketing material alongside some of the most legendary, long-lasting and fondly remembered handsets of all time (depending on your age).

The Nokia Design Archive will go live in January 2025, but we’re presenting a sneak preview of some of the 700-plus exhibits, which date from the early 1990s through to 2017. Nokia can trace its history back to pulp mills in 1865, before evolving into a multinational that did everything from supplying power to making rubber boots.

The portable telecoms boom of the 1990s was a pivotal time for Nokia, which had acquired a number of key players in the nascent mobile tech sphere. After the 1982 Mobira Senator car phone, Nokia's first mobile phone was the 1987 Mobira Cityman 900. What followed was two decades of innovation and then ten years of decline, as Nokia shaped and reshaped the form factor of the mobile as well as helped develop the networks, software and protocols that are still used today.

Although the Aalto University has curated 700 exhibits, the actual repository is around 20,000 files, amounting to around 960GB of data. All of this has been licensed from Microsoft Mobile, following the American giant’s acquisition of Nokia in 2014 and the ill-fated pivot to the Windows Phone OS. This lasted barely three years, before the Nokia name was once again moved on – it’s now in the safe hands of HMD.

‘In Finland we have a tradition for being open with big data sets,’ says Anna Valtonen, lead researcher on the Nokia Design Archive. ‘The focus is often on numerical, empirical stuff, but what about people? What about how humans perceive things? How are ideas adopted into society? From a scientific perspective, this is the kind of qualitative empirical material we need more of.’

‘Especially in these times of change, it is important to understand how we can grasp the world around us and imagine what we could be,’ Valtonen adds. According to Kaisu Savola, a postdoctoral researcher in the University’s Department of Design, ‘Nokia was in a similar position in the 1990s as Samsung or Apple are today. These large corporations shape our lives with their products.’ The Nokia Design Archive taps into this often-hidden side of tech history, exploring the utopian ideals of pre-social media mobile connectivity.

The Nokia Design Archive goes live on 15 January 2024

Aalto University, Aalto.fi

At Kiasma—Helsinki’s Museum of Contemporary Art—French artist Pauline Curnier Jardin has finally been afforded the space to construct the grotesque amusement park of her dreams. We enter on the periphery of the so-called Luna Park, a zone where the more marginalised figures of the entertainment industry are known to congregate. A khaki-coloured military tent occupies the room, with a bucket full of silver coins next to its small cut-out viewing window. Activated by the coin slot, the interior of the tent lights up dramatically, revealing a peepshow of sexual drawings lining its walls. These simple figurative illustrations were done by members of the Feel Good Cooperative—an artistic collective made up of artists, architects and a group of Colombian trans sex workers and their allies, co-initiated by Curnier Jardin during the Covid lockdowns—and depict their everyday work.

As an entry point into this comprehensive exhibition, Le Tombeau (2022) is rife with meaning: despite initial appearances, the spaces Curnier Jardin penetrates in her practice are not just ones of wholesome diversion but also include the integral labour of disenfranchised members of society. She’s interested in appropriating the visual language of fanfare to speak about the history of power underlying forms of gathering and community enacted in the western world—from the overt violence of the colosseum to the more insidious colonial, racial and gendered inequalities presented in world fairs and theme parks.

'Even though it’s an amusement park, each of the attractions, each little island, carries a heavy history and, at the same time, it looks playful,' Curnier Jardin explains of her show at Kiasma. 'This is what my work has asked for a long time: How can something that is violent be the origin of entertainment?'

In close collaboration with scenographer Rachel Garcia, Curnier Jardin has realised an eye-catching architectural feat at Kiasma. Three installations—each a vivid theme park attraction in its own right—take over the central space. The Luna Kino (2022) pays homage to a real cinema, the Luna Lichtspiegel, which was run by a woman and thus remained open throughout the Second World War in Germany, as a tool of mass entertainment and morale during wartime. These kinds of propagandistic diversions mask a bloody reality, and Curnier Jardin’s installation here mirrors the horror underlying them—a gaping entry to the cave arches above the open legs of a reclined female figure, thick red liquid dripping from a transparent screen behind.

'These are not soft realities, they are not easy aspects of life,' Curnier Jardin says of the topics covered in the show and her preoccupation with blood as subject matter and material. 'For a long time now, I have re-appropriated the presence of blood to say it’s not only [about] horror or pain, it’s also the reality of life. When there is blood, there is life.'

The flower-clad Tunnel of Love (2024) features her film Bled Out (2019) about postmenopausal sexuality and, fittingly, we emerge from the passageway into the Hot Flashes Forest (2019). Next, we enter a massive, fleshy colosseum structure at the far end of the exhibition. In it, Curnier Jardin screens her 2021 film Fat to Ashes, bringing together footage from religious and carnivalesque gatherings across Europe, cinematically and aurally highlighting their monstrous qualities. Echoing the scope of the show as a whole, this film details a host of rituals that underpin western society, revealing a societal fascination with carnality, gore and ecstatic violence.

Pauline Curnier Jardin is at Kiasma, Helsinki’s Museum of Contemporary Art until 23 February 2025

kiasma.fi

We could learn a lot from the Finns, not just from their intrinsic embrace of design as part of everyday life, but in their approach to life full stop. You’ve probably read already that they are regularly (perhaps spuriously) voted the happiest population on the planet. Here’s a mere smattering of remarkable facts gleaned about life in Helsinki from just two days spent covering Helsinki Design Week 2024 (6 to 15 September). During summer holidays, every day, all children under the age of 16 have access to free, state-funded, hot meals served in playgrounds at lunchtime. There is a tunnel system under Helsinki with a plan to house and support the entire urban population in case of catastrophe, complete with water, electricity, wifi, libraries, playgrounds, an art gallery and enough food supplies for three years. Taxes might be exorbitant but state welfare is deemed good enough not to elicit much grumbling. Oh, and apparently Finns call mozzarella Moomin flesh, which is amazing.

We’re here to talk about design, not Moomins, and, true to Finnish design sensibility, Helsinki Design Week is not an event that takes place only at a trade fair. Over two days we are shown Alvar Aalto buildings, of course. But we are also shown a new playground that teaches children about digital culture, a new four-storey hotel and HQ for the forestry company Stora Enso, built predominantly from wood, a new housing development by American architect Steven Holl, a new wooden toy company, and a new combined research and exhibition space at Aalto university. We are taken to new restaurants and introduced to a new architectural competition for a new Museum of Design and Architecture that is spearheading the redevelopment of a new museum quarter on the old harbourfront. We are introduced to the new creative directors of heritage Finnish design brands. The message is loud and clear: there is a surge of progress taking place in Helsinki, and design is the driver.

For all the optimism, not everything is rosy in Helsinki. There are 50 per cent more hotel rooms in the capital today than in 2019 – a huge number of new properties were greenlit before the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, thanks to the latter, tourism is suffering. Because of the war and necessary detour around Russian airspace, Vantaa’s monopoly as an Asian transit hub has all but dried up. That beautiful paragon of an airport feels like a ghost town. Finland might now be part of Nato, but its 1,340km border with Russia looms large on the horizon and in the consciousness of Finns.

At dinner one night a director of the digital design agency Reaktor (winners of this year’s Helsinki Design Award) explained that the economy is nimbly transitioning from manufacturing to technology. Yet, such is the scale of the country, he said, Finland can only ever act as a laboratory for hatching excellent brands that wealthier companies elsewhere will buy to catapult into a different value league. This stayed with me as we took in design week and all its novelties. Economics aside, is being a design-driven laboratory for the rest of the world such a rum deal? At least the Finns have happiness on their side.

Helsinkidesignweek.com

Highlights from Helsinki Design Week 2024

Aalto University

15-years ago the business, technology and design universities in Helsinki merged to create the Aalto University, pioneering trans-sectoral education and research in the process. A new building opened on the campus last week dedicated to AI, augmented reality, brain research, communication and staged events. It is also home to the sixth edition of student work under the title ‘Designs for a Cooler Planet’, on show for design week. These are more than speculative projects. In many cases, thanks to the collaborative nature of the Aalto educational approach, interesting concepts are able to be prototyped and tested for viability at greater scales. Here we learn about textiles made from banknotes taken out of circulation, alternative packaging solutions, natural dyes and shimmering sequins made entirely from wood. If Finland is the laboratory of the world, then Aalto University is the laboratory of the future.

Aalto.fi

Iittala

In the red brick depths of Kulttuuritalo, the Helsinki Hall of Culture (designed by Alvar Aalto and opened in 1958), Iittala staged a magnificent, evocative showcase. Titled ‘Kaamos’, the show consisted of ten monumental glass sculptures in the blacked-out belly of the building, lit by a circular projection of the sun or the mouth of a furnace. Iittala’s new creative director Janni Vepsäläinen has caused a stir with her dynamic handling of the heritage glass company since her appointment last year. Iittala resides in the homes and hearts of most Finns, so changes come with great responsibility and high stakes. From where we stand, we applaud Vepsäläinen for reigniting passion into a brand that has fire at its heart and alchemy in its soul, and it is clear she cares deeply about the origins and the future of Iittala. ‘Kaamos’ stirred hearts and souls; capturing the elemental ‘endless shades of twilight’ as summer’s sun slowly loses its luminescence. ‘Glass doesn’t exist without light,’ Vepsäläinen said casually at the opening, suggesting material intelligence and a gift for aphorism in a beat. Where so many long-cherished brands in design are now being run by money men in grey suits, how exciting it is to have a youthful firebrand and enlightened creative at the helm of Iittala.

Iittala.com

Helsinki Design Museum

A merger earlier this year between the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Design Museum in Helsinki heralded the call for an anonymous architecture competition to design a home for what will be on completion (slated for 2030) one of the world’s largest museums dedicated to design and architecture. In the same location where the ill-fated Guggenheim project was once meant to sit, this more rational project is spear-heading the redevelopment of Helsinki’s South Harbour. Meanwhile, a light yet rigorous show ‘FIX: Care and Repair’ is on at the design museum’s current abode, demonstrating the myriad ways in which attitudes to upkeep impact our belongings, buildings and lives at large.

Designmuseum.fi

Finnish Design Shop

Celebrating their 20th anniversary of ‘shipping Nordic happiness around the world’ to 170-odd countries, the Finnish retailer and distributor has marked the occasion by launching their first own-brand collection. Called ‘Pelata’ which means ‘Let’s Play’ in Finnish, the collection comprises a range of wooden objects designed for children to enjoy and for adults to reawaken their inner youthfulness. Musical instruments by Norwegian stars Anderssen &Voll, a backgammon board by TAF Studio, and throwing games by Kaksikko and Studio Tolvanen were launched over a homemade seasonal banquet lunch in the old train yards. ‘Playing games is one of the simplest but also most powerful ways of engaging with the world and each other,’ said Teemu Kiiski, founder of the Finnish Design Shop: ‘Good design is about engagement, not just looking at things.’

Finnishdesignshop.com

Habitare

Trade fairs have it tough in design these days. Away from the global behemoth of Salone and the larger regional events in Stockholm and more recently Copenhagen, Helsinki’s trade fair addresses the Finnish market. As such ‘news’ is fairly thin on the ground. Carl Hansen were first-time exhibitors, having opened a showroom in Helsinki in the pandemic. Amongst old favourites, highlights on their stand included beautiful lighting from their 2023 acquisition of Danish Lighting manufacturer Pandul. Elsewhere, acoustic and environmental lighting solutions demonstrated the Finns rigour with sensory wellbeing in design and architecture. Winter is always coming in this part of the world. What could be a dry affair in Habitare is lifted substantially by the inclusion of younger designers in a dedicated section too. Ones to watch are Myceen, pushing the boundaries of Mycelium not just for product design, but as a building material too. We were also charmed by the young talent Teemu Vidgren’s interpretation of traditional Finnish vernacular objects from ‘peasant houses’ in his own words, which included a standing candlestick and textile screen-cum-room divider.

Habitare.com

Ruoholati Playground

The first computer-themed playground in the world is soon to open, thanks to the combined imagination of children’s author Linda Liukas and the vision of Hanna Harris, Helsinki’s chief design officer. Helsinki is celebrating 110 years of public playgrounds this year. There are currently 64 playgrounds in Helsinki and this remodelled one from the 1990s is brilliantly bizarre. ‘The idea is to help children engage about computer culture through bodily action,’ Liukas explains, ‘Learning through play is a powerful way of demystifying complex subjects and helping to make people comfortable with the unknown.’ Across different zones and brightly coloured objects here, children are encouraged to learn ideas about keyboards and algorithms, coding and media safety. ‘We hope to reduce the fear-factor of computing and help make positive memories for children growing up in a digital world,’ Liukas concludes. ‘Don’t forget to play!’ wrote Alvar Aalto. He would no doubt approve of the Ruoholati Playground, and of Helsinki Design Week this year too.

Hel.fi

It is only fitting that Katajanokan Laituri, the headquarters of the Finnish forestry company Stora Enso, should be housed in a building largely made from wood. Created by local practice Anttinen Oiva, this is not just an exercise in sustainable architecture and the pioneering and progressive use of wood in urban large-scale architecture; but it also heralds an exciting new chapter in Helsinki’s Kauppatori Market district. Selina Anttinen, partner at Anttinen Oiva, explains: ‘The goal has been to create a calm presence in the historic milieu, but at the same time to provide an interesting new environment for city dwellers.’

The case of Katajanokan Laituri

Finns have led the way in recent decades with timber construction thanks in no small part to the Nordic nation’s abundance of trees and, as a consequence, its highly developed forestry industry. A core part of Finnish identity is rooted in the Finns’ symbiotic relationship with nature, and this has galvanized architects, developers and planners to embrace timber construction as a cornerstone of the country’s ambition to achieve carbon neutrality.

Impressively, the four-storey Katajanokan Laituri is constructed from around 7,500 cubic metres of wood, comprising almost 3,000 wooden elements. The visible structure is made from Finnish and Swedish timber, combining cross-laminated timber and laminated veneer lumber. While the building’s outer façade is made from glass, metal and stone, the interior skin is predominantly wood. ‘A double-skin was the best solution in an architecturally and technically challenging maritime context,’ explains Anttinen. ‘The outer protective layer integrates with its stone-built surroundings and is made of glass with vertical white metal lamellas and natural stone. The building’s appearance transforms in different times of the day and lighting conditions, and fits the various scales and motifs of the surrounding buildings from the different historical eras.’

Not just a feat of sensitive urban integration and development, and beyond its impressive wooden construction credentials, Katajanokan Laituri is a strikingly beautiful project. There’s no doubt that the predominance of wood makes for a building with greater sensory engagement. It doesn’t just look good, it smells good and feels good too. Inside there is a soaring, circular cathedral-like hall with a round skylight bringing daylight into the heart of the space, landing on a large, circular wooden bench. In a narrow inner courtyard, homage has been paid to the building’s organic matter with the addition of a fresh birch grove.

‘We have a long tradition of wooden construction in Finland, but larger-scale examples in urban environments are still few,’ Anttinen says. ‘In Katajanokan Laituri, we had a possibility to work in a demanding context with clients, partners and builders that understood, supported and pushed forward not only our design vision, but also our common goals to research and test the new type of large-scale wooden constructions.’ Facing the sea and acknowledging the rise in sea levels forecast in our future, the building also acts as a flood barrier.

Alongside Stora Enso’s headquarters, Katajonakan Laituri also houses the 164-room Katajanokka Pier 4 Hotel, together with restaurant and office facilities. Nestled within the historic centre of the Finnish capital fronting the sea, the building will soon be joined by the visitor pavilion for the Helsinki Biennial and in years to come the New Architecture and Design Museum, forging an integrated cultural, commercial and tourism hub in one of the city’s most picturesque areas. Says Anttinen of the project’s particular context: ‘With the old headquarters of Stora Enso by Alvar Aalto next door, and the iconic buildings of Helsinki’s historical centre by Carl Ludwig Engel nearby, the new building is now part of Helsinki’s maritime skyline.’

Aoa.fi

The midcentury gem that is the House of Culture in Helsinki is one of Alvar Aalto's masterpieces - an iconic event space conceived as a place for performance and the arts and imbued with the modernist architecture master's signature organic curves, sensitivity and use of brick. 

Completed in 1958 and an icon in architecture history, the place has seen gigs by the who-is-who of 20th-century music, including Queen and Led Zeppelin. Over the years, however, it fell in need of a refresh - and now, this landmark piece of architecture has got a new lease of life by a team led by Design Agency Fyra and including established Finnish architects JKMM, who worked on the interiors, for client ASM Global Finland, its new operator. 

Reviving Alvar Aalto's House of Culture

The site, owned by Helsingin Kulttuurihub, has been designated for preservation under Finland's Building Protection Act since 1989. This meant the architecture team had to tread carefully to ensure all changes were made in the original structure's spirit. JKMM, the design team behind several inspiring, yet considered reuses of existing buildings in the city - such as the Amos Rex Museum - as well as a wealth of cultural spaces across Finland, including the recently opened Chappe, took on the challenge to head the interior restoration. 

JKMM was assigned to work on the modernization and design care of the public areas, including the majestic main auditorium and concert hall, the black box club, the mirror room, the brick foyer, the lobby areas, and the restaurant. 

As the aim was for the space to continue to serve as an event space, hosting gatherings, conferences, art performances and music shows, all functions needed to be brought to the 21st century, while preserving the architectural spirit of the whole.

The building's basement-level Alppisali hall, a space that has stood dormant for years, has now been fully revitalised and transformed into a new venue. Originally designed as a cinema but having fallen into disrepair, the generous room has reopened as 'Kult,' a black-box type DJ and live music club accommodating 300-500 patrons. 

Elsewhere, areas have been cleaned and restored, refitted with modern technologies and services. Meanwhile, in the interior mix of surfaces and furniture, the architects explained that 'inspiration was drawn from the history of the building, existing surfaces, and today's youth culture, where personal identity is freely constructed by mixing styles and accessories from different eras and crossing gender and generational boundaries.'

The architects write: 'At the heart of the renovation and modernization of the public spaces has been the creation of a functional event environment while respecting the cultural and historical value of the protected building.'

'In terms of interior design, references to different phases of the building's history have been incorporated into the audience spaces. The colours and shapes honour the original spirit of the building.'

The House of Culture’s existing, original furniture pieces by Ilmari Tapiovaara and Alvar Aalto were upholstered and reintroduced with care in various areas that felt fitting to host them, taking into account each space's function. Similarly, existing Aalto light fixtures were upgraded and reused, in another gesture that celebrates the great architect's lasting legacy. 

jkmm.fi

The Hotel Maria is a luxurious new place to stay in Helsinki’s quiet and prestigious neighbourhood of Kruununhaka, in the old city, close to landmarks such as Senate Square and Helsinki Cathedral. The hotel occupies buildings that date from 1885 and were designed by Finnish architect Evert Lagerspetz as military offices, a club, and residential quarters for high-ranking officials and their families, later serving as Finnish ministerial offices.

The Hotel Maria: a new benchmark

The historically significant, neo-Renaissance-style structures are protected by the Finnish Heritage Agency. Developer Samla Capital acquired the property in 2020 with a vision of transforming it into a premium hotel, offering true luxury experiences. ‘While Finland has many great hotels and some luxury properties in Lapland and the southern part of the country, the selection of truly premium luxury accommodations has been limited,’ notes The Hotel Maria’s commercial director, Heli Mende. Helsinki-based practice Avarc Architects Oy was tasked with meticulous historical preservation while breathing new life into the buildings.

The name ‘Maria’ was chosen as the hotel draws inspiration from Danish princess and Russian empress Maria Feodorovna, a symbol of grace, beauty, and intelligence. The interior of the main building, located on Mariankatu (Maria Street), features feminine and light colour schemes. Jana Sasko, head designer of the hotel, explains, ‘We set out to create an elegant and timeless atmosphere with ivory, beige, taupe, as well as a touch of black, brass, gold, and silver, which are often used in women’s classic clothing and jewellery, as well as in classic interior design.’

Mende continues, ‘Some of the original structures and interior decor were preserved, and the original floor plans have been honoured as much as possible upon converting the rooms into hotel rooms.’ For example, one room has original wallpapers and ceiling paintings to showcase the history of the location, and old iron railings and elevator shafts have been preserved.

The hotel’s general manager, Katriina Moksi, adds, ‘Forty-two kilometres of the original mouldings in the hotel have been restored manually. Installing modern, energy-efficient heating, air-conditioning, and water supply systems has required extra effort in these beautiful old buildings.’

The hotel’s 159 chandeliers, including large, fluted glass chandeliers by Theo Eichholotz and three-tiered crystal art deco-inspired chandeliers crafted by Timothy Oulton, were purchased from an existing collection.

Wellness is emphasised in the hotel’s guest experiences. Finland’s esteemed sauna culture is steeped throughout. Each guest bath is a private sanctuary created to deliver a spa-like experience, featuring marble-covered spaces, most with large soaking tubs, steam showers, and, in many suites, personal in-room saunas.

The Maria Spa features a large Finnish sauna, a steam room, cool and warm plunge pools, a Jacuzzi, and four treatment rooms, catering to both Finnish and international guests and their desire for both familiar and new pampering and rejuvenating spa experiences.

The whole hotel experience is defined by tranquillity, elegance, and an emphasis on wellbeing.

hotelmaria.fi

Finnair, the world's sixth oldest operating airline, has been busy commemorating its 100th anniversary – a century dedicated to connecting people and cultures through the skies. Originating in 1923 as Aero, with seaplanes equipped for both winter and summer flights, Finnair has since evolved into a prominent global player in the aviation industry.

Fast forwarding to pre-pandemic 2019, Finnair served approximately 14.6 million passengers. The journey hasn't been without challenges, as the airline recently emerged from a double crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and the closure of Russian airspace. Yet, undeterred and as part of the centenary festivities, Finnair recently initiated a €200 million investment program, introducing innovations such as its inaugural premium economy seat, a new business class product, and refreshed economy cabins.

Finnair takes fly with worldwide centenary celebrations

The commencement of the celebrations included the release of a special postage stamp, an exhibition showcasing vintage uniforms, and the launch of the Finnair 100 inflight menu. Notably, two A350 aircraft were adorned with a special Moomin livery and three narrow-body Airbuses with the tagline 'Bringing us together since 1923.'

'Our centenary theme is "Bringing us together since 1923" since the important role of aviation in connecting people has been a recurring theme in all the stories we have heard when we have met with our personnel, customers, partners, and other stakeholders in our centenary celebrations around the world,' says Päivyt Tallqvist, senior vice president of communications at Finnair.

The observances also saw the revival of the printed in-flight magazine, Blue Wings, with a special anniversary issue available to passengers during the summer. Although this marked the final paper edition of Blue Wings, its content is now accessible in a digital format.

Integrating its rich heritage into the milestone, Finnair collaborated with Finnish brands, including a Moomin mug in partnership with Arabia, a Finnish tableware brand, Makia, a Finnish clothing brand, and Karhu, a sneaker brand, to create unique collections available to the public. Furthermore, extending its commitment to community engagement, Finnair welcomed 1,700 elementary school children to its hangars, providing them with an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the airline's operations.

Around its November anniversary, Finnair took over Helsinki Airport, treating passengers to performances by the Finnair Singers, greetings from Moomin characters, and delicacies at its lounges. These celebrations extended globally, reaching cities such as Helsinki, Stockholm, Tallinn, New York, Seoul, Tokyo, Madrid, Rome, and Beijing.

finnair.com

For a city that boasts its own director of design, it’s no surprise that Helsinki Design Week is a good time to visit. Museums host blockbuster openings, showrooms pull out all the stops and Finland’s hottest talents exhibit at the main fair, Habitare. The whole city is abuzz with more than 250 events that span the spectrum from student graduation shows (Aalto University joined in for the first time this year) to new ranges from big hitters (Arabia unveiled its debut collection of Moomins textiles) to striking solo shows (outsider artist Maria Tani crochets her colourful sculptures). 

During the pre-pandemic era of mega fairs, Helsinki’s remote location was seen as disadvantageous, but increasingly, its less-crowded latitude is something to be cherished. Around 99 per cent of the 130-odd exhibitors are Finnish, which gives it 'a local flavour and a strong identity', says Habitare’s creative director Laura Sarvilinna. What’s more, the city’s midcentury gems, such as Alvar Aalto’s home and studio and the 1960s studio of nonagenarian design legend Yrjö Kukkapuro are well preserved and easy to visit.

Here’s what stood out at this year’s fair (8 – 17 September 2023).

Helsinki Design Week 2023: Wallpaper* highlights

All over the city, blond woods and clean lines were in strong supply along with pops of colour and a particular Nordic attitude to light. For Håkan Långstedt, CEO of lighting company Saas Instruments, this means emphasising darkness as much as light; an idea he put into practice with theatrical flair at a dinner for 130 people in a derelict concrete bunker in the city centre.

Finland, South Korea and Japan share a love of nature and of simplicity of objects, and crossovers and collaborations are common. Finnish designer Esa Vesmanen of Finom and Japanese designer Akira Minagawa of Minä Perhonen have been collaborating on furniture for three years, and a ‘forest retreat’ of Finom plywood lights and Minä Perhonen textiles debuted at Helsinki Design Week headquarters in a former industrial building downtown. ‘We share (with the Japanese) this animistic idea that everything is connected, and we are both close to nature,' explains Vesmanen. 

It’s a view also shared by Korean designer Aamu Song and Finnish designer Johan Olin co-founders of Company, who migrated from a kiosk in the city centre to a new Salakauppa or ‘secret shop’. Painted walls depict the factories and workshops of the craft masters they collaborate with, and ‘best ofs’ from their travels in Russia, Mexico, Japan and Estonia are on sale.

Sustainability and climate consciousness were front and central at Habitare, where a section dedicated to vintage and pre-loved, dubbed Franckly, displayed glassware from Riihimäen Läsi and Artek chairs. Its top tip? Shelving units from Lundia in once old-fashioned pine. Every household had one (Lundia, meanwhile, showed new bookshelves in oak). 

Jussi Laine and Maria Klemetti Laine of Nemo architects dressed as lab technicians and hosted a ‘materials library’ in collaboration with 29 Finnish firms. Visitors were encouraged to browse products, from striped painted wood to mycelium, and organise them into mood boards at ‘collage tables’. It made for a popular distraction. ’Normally, at trade fairs, visitors are discouraged from touching anything,’ says Laine. ‘We want visitors to think beyond the surface of materials, to play, experiment, and create something new.’

Playfulness was at play at Basta, the latest collaboration between Marcel Wanders and Casper Vissers. Specialising in the local production and delivery of affordable furniture, the Basta range so far consists of sofas made in PET fabrics that can be configured individually, and wooden side tables. All pieces are ordered and made locally by locals in local materials. They are then delivered in recyclable packaging by eco vehicles. With showrooms already in Amsterdam and Helsinki, Basta opens next year in Copenhagen, Stockholm and Antwerp. 

All across the city, cinnamon buns and champagne flowed, and landmark destinations hosted special shows. Textile house Lapuan Kankurit celebrated its 50th anniversary with new towels, blankets and scarves, and leading design gallery Lokal took works by its favourite makers and artists to the fair.

On the seafront, Löyly launched its first home sauna. Designed by Avanto, the architects of what has become Helsinki’s most popular tourist attraction, the new Aito sauna can be installed anywhere without foundations. Will it pitch up at the next year’s fair offering visitors a little R&R? We will have to wait and see.

helsinkidesignweek.com
habitare.fi

Danish design house Gubi is reissuing a series of Paavo Tynell creations to expand its existing collection of Tynell designs. Since 1967, Gubi has been bringing timeless modern icons to today’s audience by harnessing contemporary creative talents and craftsmanship. Working closely with Tynell’s family, the company selected some of the designer’s most cherished lighting pieces. The process involved studying original examples and experimenting with materials and equipment to restore his signature brass designs, radiating elegance and industrial efficiency.

Tynell (1890 – 1973) was a metalsmith, internationally famed Finnish lighting designer, and co-founder and chief designer of Taito Oy, established in 1818 as the first industrial producer of lighting fixtures in Finland, with the goal of manufacturing objects from gold, silver, bronze, and iron. 

With the spread of electricity in the early 20th century, by the 1940s, 99 per cent of the dwellings in Helsinki had electric lights, and streets were lit at night. Tynell designed lights for many monumental buildings in his homeland and abroad. In his time, light must have symbolised hope, warmth, comfort, prosperity, vision, and life itself. 

'It is wonderful that Gubi is returning our father’s designs to production after so many decades,' says Pekka Tynell, son of Paavo Tynell. 'He had such a tremendous impact on the design story of Finland and on lighting around the globe, so it’s important both to design lovers worldwide and to us as a family that his legacy is honoured in this way.'

This year, Gubi brings back several Tynell designs, from the ‘9209’ or ‘Kypärä’ table lamp (its nickname meaning 'helmet'), featuring a spun brass shade with intricate triangular perforations, to the ‘9205’ table lamp with canvas or bamboo shades. But the collection also includes a series of brass pendants, and a floor lamp known for its distinctive playful shade shape. 

For the occasion, we follow Gubi on a tour of Helsinki's architectural icons, to discover Tynell lighting in action. 

A tour of Helsinki through Paavo Tynell lights

Helsinki Central Station

Imagine getting off an intercity train at the Helsinki Central Station, which was designed by Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen (1873 – 1950), was inaugurated in 1919, and is considered one of the world’s most beautiful terminals. 

As you enter the massive main hall, you are enveloped with the warm glow emitted from Tynell’s neoclassical chandeliers suspended from the arched, high ceiling. They were installed in the 1950s after a fire destroyed the earlier, more ornately designed lights. 

Look up to see the rings of frosted glass cones cinched in the middle with polished brass rings fastened to the large centre loops. On sunny days, the Tynell chandeliers and the shafts of light entering through the dome-shaped window frames create stunning layered patterns of light and shade. 

Original Sokos Hotel Vaakuna

Across the street from the train station stands the Original Sokos Vaakuna Hotel, the largest hotel in the Nordic countries at the time of its 1952 opening. It is housed in the Sokos Department Store Building, designed by the architect Erkki Huttunen, who gave Tynell full control of the light fixtures for the property, including the lobby, foyers, guest rooms, and top-floor restaurant. The hotel accommodated international athletes and journalists attending the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. 

Inside the lobby, you come face-to-face with a historical interior décor that is fully alive and functional today. Tynell’s cone-shaped brass reading lights with small vertical perforations hug the wood-panelled wall of the circular lobby, set between high-backed chairs. 

Floral-patterned glass and brass chandeliers and wall lights in the foyer escort you to the check-in counter, where lamps with small brass cone-shaped shades light the area as guests fill out paperwork. 

In the hallways, stairways, and the top-floor restaurant are more of Tynell’s glass-metal chandeliers with variations of the themed designs. 

His famous floor lamps, model ‘9602’, with canvas shades, stand in the seating areas of the restaurant floor. Alluring glass-brass chandeliers elevate the dining experience. 

Helsinki School of Economics

In the Töölö neighbourhood, less than one kilometre from the Original Sokos Vaakuna Hotel, is what was originally the Helsinki School of Economics, built in 1950 by architects Hugo Harmia and Woldemar Baeckman, which became the Aalto University Executive Education (Aalto EE) in 2020. The massive relief Kauppiaita (meaning ‘merchants’) by ceramicist Michael Schilkin covers the beige brick building’s exterior wall. 

Inside, the grand arched ballroom, a highlight of the building, features Tynell’s wall lamps with unique intricate brass wire decorations. He crafted warm-orange copper ceiling lamps for the meeting rooms. 

One of the most dramatic interior features is the curved Finnish pine wall bench with Tynell’s lamps embedded in the upper portion. The 2020 restoration brought the important public areas back to their former glory, with over 500 Tynell lamps meticulously preserved, cleaned, and polished.

Meilahti Church

Two kilometres north of the city centre is Meilahti Church, designed by the architect Markus Tavio in 1945, and inaugurated in 1954 with Finnish- and Swedish-language churches under one roof in a tree-lined residential neighbourhood for the city’s growing population. Paavo Tynell designed all the lamps in the church and the altar candelabra. 

When I visited recently, the air in the larger church hall was serene. On the front wall in the centre hangs a backlit cross. The six horizontal chandeliers – with spherical glass bulbs set on diagonal brass stems jutting out from the central brass circle – are suspended from the high ceiling and hover above parishioners waiting for mass to begin. These chandeliers are said to resemble the biblical crown of thorns. Perhaps because of the round lightbulbs and warm lights, however, they looked more like halos to me, especially on this day, when most in attendance were young people full of hope at their confirmation service. 

The skyline sinks low as our ferry presses out beyond Helsinki harbour for Vallisaari, one of some 330 islands scattering the archipelago. Only since 2016 has this former military installation embraced the visiting public. Once a thriving community of 300, the last of its inhabitants left in 1996, casting the island into a slumber, and in turn, its meadows and groves into near-perfect wilderness: still one of the most diverse ecosystems in the archipelago.  

This June, Vallisaari embraces not only wildlife-seeking day-trippers, but the 29 artists and collectives and their onlookers of the Helsinki Biennial 2023. Across both island and city centre – including the Helsinki Art Museum, Oodi Library, Botanical Garden, and harbourside – curator Josia Krysa is joined by five curatorial collaborators (Critical Environmental Data, the Museum of Impossible Forms, the TBA21-Academy, ViCCA @ Aalto Arts, and an A.I. Entity).  

Helsinki Biennial 2023: ‘New Directions May Emerge’

The edition’s title – ‘New Directions May Emerge’ –  has been summoned from anthropologist Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing’s exhortation to the act of ‘noticing’. It’s a proposition at once ‘very future-oriented and quite optimistic’, Krysa insists, concerned with ‘practices of worlding: ways to bring worlds together and imagine them otherwise’.

Physical, digital, and ‘blended’ works (comprising 50 per cent newly commissioned and site-specific works) assemble under three central themes: ‘contamination’, ‘regeneration’, and ‘agency’, threaded with ideas from natural and data science; cosmology and the supernatural; and artificial and non-human intelligences. Together they offer ‘possible responses’ rather than ‘solutions’, Krysa distinguishes. For, in the mode of our journey to the island, this is a biennial lapped with liminality and uncertainty: ‘the wild, free and resilient edges’, says artist Tuula Närhinen, whose studio resides on a neighbouring island, and whose installation The Plastic Horizon (2021-23) surfaces her long-running cleaning operation on Helsinki’s fragile seashores.  

Within the cool and dark of a Vallisaari gunpowder cellar, Närhinen’s vast line-up of plastic bottle caps, toys, straws and other debris radiates as a spectral spectrum of anthropogenic waste. ‘Unfortunately,’ Närhinen says, ‘I am not the only animal attracted to the allure of debris.’ 

Accompanying thoughts on the contamination of the sea are found in Emilija Škarnulytė’s film installation, Hypoxia (co-commissioned with TBA21-Academy): pooling intoxicating images of deep-sea mining, the Nord Stream gas-explosion, and the Lithuanian myth of Jūratė. Škarnulytė grew up close to the Baltic Sea and inherited the aspiration for ‘idyllic white sands’ she says, but the reality is these waters are some of the most polluted in the world, leeched with military ammunition from the Second World War and the Cold War. Hypoxia – referring to the condition of oxygen-depleted ocean ‘dead-zones’ – is an act of ‘brainstorming sci-fi scenarios’, Škarnulyte says. ‘But you don’t need to search far, these scenarios surround us in daily life.’  

It seems we are still searching the island for the promise of the biennial’s title. ‘Searching’: a more desperate pursuit than the poetry of ‘noticing’. For artist Lotta Petronella, based on Ruissalo island in the Turku archipelago, to search is to forage – and she dedicates her Vallisaari ‘apothecary’ to Ilma Lindgreen: the woman who fought and won for the right to roam and forage in Finland in 1914.

Together with artists Sami Tallberg & Lau Nau, Materia Medica of Islands is a sanctuary amongst the eerie military structures of Vallisaari island. Voices of a ‘lamenting choir’ waft above wooden shelves lined with countless vials – ‘Mugwort for dreaming’ and ‘St Johnswort for melancholy, picked under a July full moon’. On a side wall are hung dozens of frenzied embroideries of moths –  species that have been studied on the island as indicators of climate change. 

For, to see humans apart from nature is to hold a ‘blind spot’, insists Sámi artist Matti Aikio. His desolate film piece Oikos (2023), layers monochrome images of reindeer herding with those of encroaching energy production and natural resource extraction. ‘My Sámi family history is a history of conflict,’ Aikio writes. The landscapes and technologies he juxtaposes are gently coexistent on screen for now, but how they are to reconcile on the land is yet unseen.  

When the past butts up against the present, what matters most is the ‘newness’ of our travel – to prevent old mistakes from being repeated. Sepideh Rahaa’s Songs to Earth, Songs to Seeds (2023) attends to the ancient rice paddy culture of her native Northern Iran. Split-screen documentary film runs beside a ceramic urn, strung above with dried rice plants. Beyond the immediate poignancy of the film’s rumination on ritual, cultivation and ancestry, Rahaa’s work is a cry to cycles of crisis: how farmers are forced by legislation into using toxic fertilisers, further depleting their already stricken lands.  

The undulating, fern-lined paths scoured across Vallisaari island offer choice routes of encounter, as do digital works. South Korean web-artist Yehwan Song wields machine-learning technology for Newly Formed (2023), an interactive map drawn from the Helsinki Art Museum collection, revealed as a procession of painterly blobs (or ‘portals’) that transport the user from one warped canvas ‘panorama’ to the next.

Blending digital and physical storytelling, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s I Can't Take This Step For You (2023), imagines the stories of Black Trans people on Vallisaari, through a series of haunting figure groups rising beside the island footpaths. Brathwaite-Shirley’s accompanying ‘Web Pilgrimage’, meanwhile, promises users to ‘bring you closer to the parts of yourself that you hide from others’ – not even the whispering island winds will tell. 

Whichever path through the biennial map is taken, it seems all routes converge at the Ángel Yōkai Atā, or ‘Spirit House of Angels’, by artist collective Keiken, sited on the narrow isthmus bridging Vallisaari and neighbouring Kuninkaansaari island. ‘I wanted the work to sit towards the end of the narrative,’ says Krysa – ‘to offer some hope, as something that marks the possible new direction of travel’. Approaching the portal along the water’s edge – part lifesize kaleidoscope, part Polly Pocket trinket box – with its glittering reliefs and scattering of gaming widgets – feels close to heaven-bound. It is home for angels ‘and all kinds of consciousness’, say Keiken. A space ‘to just be’.  

Helsinki Biennial 2023: New Directions May Emerge, Finland, 11 June – 17 September 2023

helsinkibiennial.fi

The Aalto2 Museum Centre is the latest addition to Jyväskylä's rich cultural offering. It was there that legendary Finnish modernist architecture master Alvar Aalto (1898–1976) created the Museum of Central Finland (completed in 1961, and later thrice renovated) and the Alvar Aalto Museum (1971-73), standing next to each other, representing his 'white' era. Now, Aalto2 is set to further articulate the architect's powerful creative vision, connecting the two adjacent structures. 

Jyväskylä, 270km north of Helsinki, is Aalto’s home town, and a must-see destination for architecture, design and culture enthusiasts, as it is also home to the largest number of Aalto-designed buildings in the world. There are 29 in total, including the Säynätsalo Town Hall (1949-52), the University of Jyväskylä (1951-71), Muurame Church (1926-29), Jyvaskyla Worker’s Club (1924-25), and Muuratsalo Experimental House (1952-54).  Meanwhile, his otherworldly Finnish Pavilion at the 1939 World’s Fair was hailed as the 'work of genius' by Frank Lloyd Wright. 

Aalto2 Museum Centre: a vision fulfilled

Aalto2 fulfills Aalto's wish of creating a forum to showcase a variety of art forms. In fact, in his first proposal for the Jyväskylä Art Museum (later the Alvar Aalto Museum), he envisioned a connecting corridor between the two neighbouring institutions, as evidenced in a 1971 drawing.

The extension design that opened to the public this week was created by Helsinki-based A-Konsultit Architects (also behind the renovation of both museums). It has turned the gap with a geometric pool and landscaped garden between the museums into a courtyard. Courtyards became Aalto’s signature element after he saw people socialising in piazzas in small Italian villages. Behind the extension is another newly created small outdoor gathering space with rectangular stone benches for various activities, such as school children’s meetings. 

The interior is a clean, white open space with straight lines seamlessly fusing the two museums on both ends. Its functionalities are multilayered and enhance the visitor experience. It improves accessibility to both museums, and houses the gift shop, the café-restaurant, and the space for events with a wide staircase doubling as an amphitheatre-like seating (another Aalto signature feature inspired by the ancient Greek theatre of Pergamon).

Visitors to Aalto2 are treated to three new exhibitions. The opening show of Aalto2, 'World Heritage – Human Traces', jointly produced by the two museums, is a grand tour of tangible and intangible heritage, accompanied by photos and detailed descriptions. It consists of five sub-exhibitions: World Heritage, Celebrities, Finnish Sauna Culture, Finland and the World, and The Moderns, each diving into its theme. It was curated and designed by the Finnish-Spanish architectural duo Anna and Eugeni Bach. 

The permanent exhibition of the Museum of Central Finland, a regional cultural history museum, 'Exploring Central Finland', takes visitors on a journey across the rich, unique spirit of Central Finland from prehistoric times to this day, with objects to see, memories to listen to, a film to watch, and more. One of the highlights is a working jukebox from the 1960s. 

The new permanent exhibition at the Alvar Aalto Museum, 'AALTO – Work and Life', presents the architect's body of work through his philosophy, drawings, materials, processes, models and end-results. 

The show also highlights works by his wives and collaborators, Aino Aalto (1894–1949) and Elissa Aalto (1922–94); as well as vital collaborators such as Otto Korhonen, a carpenter and factory owner from 1920s, for furniture; Viljo Hirvonen, a metalsmith master electrician from 1950s, for lighting fixtures; and ceramics companies like Kupittaa Clay and Arabia Ceramic Factory for tiles. Mari Murtoniemi, chief curator of the Alvar Aalto Museum, said: 'Aalto was a designer, and absolutely needed the talents and skills of those material experts to realise his designs.'

The exhibition also showcases, for the first time in the museum’s history, illustrations and book cover designs from the architect's 1920s. These supplemented his income while he was building up his architecture commissions. 

Aalto believed that architecture and good design can solve problems in human life and society, as it is the architect’s duty to serve the everyday, and us all. This democratic design principle helped Finland lift its peoples’ spirits and face the daily realities of life after a series of wars since the country's independence in 1917. This principle is amplified in Aalto2 as it welcomes everyone of any age and background to immerse themselves in its well-curated, multifaceted programme of exhibitions and events. 

Aalto2 is part of the 125th anniversary celebrations commemorating Alvar Aalto’s birth.

aalto2.museum 

a-konsultit.fi 

Nowhere does mid-winter quite like Helsinki. The arrival of the snow, and the special light that it brings is a welcome change after grey November, and candles, fairy lights, rugs and throws accompany the dazzling blanket of white. Instead of hibernating in the sub-zero temperatures, the city buttons up, braces itself and keeps going. Nowhere is this more evident than on the waterfront, where fleets of icebreakers carve channels through the frozen seas so that commuters can go about their business, and ice swimmers relish the buzz that the change in season brings. As Wallpaper* contributing editor Emma O’Kelly – author of the upcoming book Sauna: The Power of Deep Heat (published by Welbeck in September 2023) – discovers, the Finnish spirit of never letting the weather stop you is invigorating and infectious, and when you head home from Helsinki to almost anywhere else, winter doesn’t seem so bad. 

What to do in Helsinki: the Wallpaper* tour

Mention dill meat, summer vegetable soup or pork stew to Finns of a certain age, and they grimace in horror. These unloved staples were survival fodder in post-war Finland, but at Helsinki restaurant Finnjävel, they’ve been resurrected, shedding any negative associations along the way. The Michelin-starred restaurant offers a five- or eight-course tasting menu and the adjoining bistro serves much-loved classics such as Hasselback potatoes, apple ‘donuts’ and mushroom porridge, and for Christmas, reindeer tongue and potato pudding. 

finnjavel.fi

Kulttuurisauna

In winter, Helsinki’s public saunas usually cut ice holes into the sea to cater for winter bathers, and Kulttuurisauna, on the water at Merihaka, is a picturesque place for a chilly dip. The eco-friendly, wood-fired sauna was designed by Tuomas Toivonen of Now architects almost a decade ago, and has a cult following (there’s a rumour one will open in Japan soon). It’s called the ‘culture sauna’ for a reason – silence is compulsory and boiled eggs, pickles and sea-buckthorn shots are the refreshments of choice, rather than the customary beer or long drink (G&T in a tin). 

kultturisuana.fi

Hotel St George 

The test of a good hotel is how it treats you when you’re bone-dead exhausted, and Hotel St George delivers on all fronts. Friendly staff, comfortable beds, understated design and a peaceful location next to a leafy city centre park make for a restful stay. Basement restaurant Boon Nam whips up tasty Thai dishes, and St George Bakery next door offers a cheery slice of neighbourhood life, where hotel guests and locals congregate for coffee, sourdough and cinnamon buns.

stgeorgehelsinki.com

Kaiku

There are tons of studios, bars, vintage shops and clubs in the creative quarter of Kallio, but the line for Kaiku at 1am on a rainy Saturday night is the longest by far. When it comes to clubbing, Helsinki models itself on Berlin, but the eclectic, international line-up at Kaiku offers regular alternatives to techno. In summer, clubbers spill out onto the roof terrace and gather at the outdoor bar. And in winter, they do much the same thing. 

clubkaiku.fi

Yrjönkatu Uimahalli

Those who prefer a heated indoor pool to an ice hole should head for Yrjönkatu, the city's oldest public swimming hall. Built in 1928 in classical style, it has a grand 25m pool, three saunas and individual changing cubicles fitted with beds that have an air of Soviet sanitorium about them. Don’t be put off, though, because the saunas are among the best in the city and Café Yrjö upstairs offers a tipple of mead and honey (the Viking hooch of choice) and a signature cocktail served with brandy. 

Dance House Helsinki

Dance House Helsinki is the first dedicated dance space in Finland, and judging by the dance troupes and circus performers rehearsing in its 700-seat auditorium, it’s long overdue. Local architects JKMM ‘bolted’ the new building onto a former cable factory from the 1920s. With a rolling programme of four performances a week, Dance House is the latest addition to this five-hectare artistic enclave, which includes ateliers, studios and museums, among them The Finnish Museum of Photography. JKMM is stamping its mark all over Helsinki. In 2018, it completed the Amos Rex museum and a new building for the Academy of Fine Arts has just opened on the other side of town.

tanssintalo.fi 

Vuokko

If you’re inspired by the Design Museum’s current exhibition on Antti and Vuokko Nurmesniemi, one of Finland’s most celebrated designer couples, then it’s a quick stroll along pretty shopping streets to the Vuokko boutique. Nurmesniemi’s niece Mere Eskolin is now at the helm and the boutique offers a capsule collection of Vuokko’s best sellers, among them the circular ‘Myllynkivi’ dress, first cut out of one piece of fabric in 1964, and the unisex ‘Loikka’ jumpsuit, which looks as modern today as it ever did.  

vuokko.com

Located at Töölönlahti Bay, Pikku-Finlandia (‘Little Finlandia’) sits at the heart of Helsinki’s Töölönlahti park. Developed along the southern shoreline, the park is a cultural oasis, home to the Finnish capital's winter garden and main opera house. Here, the new building is set to act as a temporary replacement for the famous Finlandia Hall by Finnish modernist architecture master Alvar Aalto, which is undergoing renovation. Demountable and built of wood, including whole tree trunks fully on show, it is an impressive piece of sustainable architecture; yet perhaps the most amazing thing about it is that Pikku-Finlandia was born as a bold student thesis.  

In 2019, architecture students Jaakko Torvinen, Elli Wendelin and Havu Järvelä submitted a student competition entry at the Aalto University’s School of Arts, Design and Architecture for a transportable wooden building to serve as an event and restaurant space that would temporarily replace Finlandia Hall while it was being restored. Their project was announced the winner and is now realised as Pikku-Finlandia. The building follows a rectangular, modular grid made of unprocessed pine, its branches still visible. The long side of the building exposes a sequence of structural pine columns, creating a feeling of being on the ‘edge of a forest’. As Europe’s most richly forested country, Finland is covered by predominantly coniferous species, including Scots pine, that span some 75 per cent of its land (almost 20 million hectares).

The 2,300 sq m multipurpose building has a capacity of 1000 people and consists of a single floor hosting a café, four halls and a cabinet. The design is flexible and modular, and the halls can be connected to form larger spaces for events and catering as needed. One of the four halls, Kelo Hall opens to a bright lobby, its long glass façade highlighting views from inside towards the landscape of Töölönlahti bay. 

Wendelin and Torvinen collaborated on their thesis, and titled it ‘From Finlandia Forest to Pikku-Finlandia – design for a transportable wooden building’. Wendelin focused on the carbon footprint of the building, as a transportable structure, and the lifecycle of the pine wood. Torvinen researched efficient and accessible ways of disassembling the structure in future through principles of reverse building design. The team, alongside their professor Pekka Heikkinen, handpicked 95 pine trunks from the southern boreal forest in Loviisa, and used a pressure washer to peel the bark and preserve the organic shape and finish of the pine.

Initially created by Torvinen, the design concept was further developed alongside fellow students Wendelin, Havu Järvelä and Stine Pedersen. After the concept was chosen to be realised, members of the team continued working on the design in collaboration with Helsinki-based architecture firm Arkkitehdit NRT Oy, and Heikkinen. 

Pikku-Finlandia can, and will, be transported to a new location once the renovations in Finlandia Hall are completed by 2025. The striking, yet relatively modest piece of eco-friendly architecture is designed to be dismantled, rebuilt, repurposed and eventually recycled. As a multipurpose space, it can be used as an educational venue, for example, visiting other parts of Helsinki or Finland in the next 30 years, which is its estimated life span.

INFORMATION

jaakkotorvinen.com

The inaugural Helsinki Biennial was more hotly anticipated than most. Due to make a bold entrance on the art calendar in 2020, it was pegged as an eco-aware alternative to the usual carbon-diffusing biennial format. 

But like many art events of 2020, it fell victim to postponement as the world grappled with the onset of the pandemic. Despite a turbulent start, this biennial with a twist has bounced back with zest. Titled ‘The Same Sea’ and curated by Pirkko Siitari and Taru Tappola, the biennial brings together 41 Finnish and international artists and artist collectives. Three-quarters of the work comprises new commissions and site-specific installations that engage directly with Vallisaari’s cultural history, geopolitics and rich biodiversity.

‘After years in the making, we are thrilled to finally open the biennial to our audiences and reveal this outstanding exhibition.’ says Maija Tanninen-Mattila, director of the Helsinki Biennial and Helsinki Art Museum (HAM). ‘We are indebted to all our team, collaborators, and especially our artists, who have worked tirelessly to make it happen.’ 

A moment in history for Helsinki

The Helsinki Biennial 2021 opened on Helsinki Day (12 June), marking the date that the city was founded, and will run until 26 September. Vallisaari island, a 15-minute boat ride from the centre of Helsinki, harbours its own history and relationship with ecology. The island has played host to seal hunters, seafarers, pilots, residents of the neighbouring islands, Russian military personnel and Finnish Defence Forces personnel and their families. The last remaining inhabitants left the island in 1996, and the site lay closed off until spring 2016. Though humans' occupation of Vallisaari was relatively fleeting, the island still bears battle scars. At the beginning of the 20th century, almost all its trees had been felled, and explosions and construction left the island’s surface mangled. But it's Vallisaari’s rich history and idiosyncrasies that have provided fertile sources of inspiration for the biennial’s artists. 

Art highlights at the Helsinki Biennial

Though the majority of the action takes place on the Island, some biennial artworks extend to mainland Helsinki. These include Janet Echelman’s aerial sculpture 1.78, which will be suspended above the city’s central Senate Square in August. At HAM, artist Rirkrit Tiravanija and Finnish food visionary Antto Melasniemi will present an installation and one-week event in collaboration with furniture company Artek. Radical German artist Katharina Grosse’s work will span both the island and mainland. At HAM she will stage her first solo exhibition in Finland and has also created a vibrant and transient new site-specific painting that sweeps across the island’s old wooden schoolhouse and the surrounding foliage. 

On Vallisaari, many of the works make use of the island’s existing structures. Dafna Maimon has turned a cellar vault into a digestive system, and Tadashi Kawamata has constructed a towering temporary lighthouse made from scrap material found on the island. 

Other artists directly confront humanity’s relationship with the natural environment. Alicja Kwade’s Big Be-Hide is sited on a narrow strip of land connecting Vallisaari with its neighbouring island Kuninkaansaari. Two large stones, one found locally, and another a man-made replica, sit either side of a mirror – a commentary about our position in the universe, and a face-off between natural and artificial forms. 

Art with an ecological mission

In ‘The Same Sea’, each artwork engages with both local and global consequences of human activity but also with alternative views for the future. Helsinki Biennial itself was conceived with a future-orientated vision and a commitment to responsible exhibition-making. ‘We want to encourage innovation and responsible action. So we are trying to think and act in new ways,’ says Tanninen-Mattila. ‘Our team includes an environmental coordinator and we are also using the world’s first carbon footprint calculator especially tailored for non-governmental organisations. No art will be left on the island after the event. For example, during the de-installation process in September, all the material from the artworks will either be recycled, reused or collected back by the artists themselves.’ Additionally, all work on the island has been executed during the daytime to avoid disrupting the native bat community with artificial lighting. 

Social change and social distancing

As the pandemic continues to grip the world, art events have been forced to radically rethink existing patterns of behaviour and create safe experiences for engaging with art. The Helsinki Biennial has implemented a hybrid model, including a comprehensive digital offering for those unable to attend in person. VR experiences, titled Quest Virtual Helsinki – Vallisaari Island, and available from the Oculus store, have been developed to transport global audiences to the heart of the excitement. 

Around a third of the artworks on Vallisaari island will be located outdoors, along pathways amidst the flora and fauna of the island, while indoor spaces will implement a carefully controlled visitor flow. ‘We are planning the biennial as a hybrid model, which will enable us to open the event in stages if necessary. We have planned various potential scenarios, including periods of closure and flexible openings,’ says Tanninen-Mattila.

INFORMATION

Helsinki Biennial 2021: ‘The Same Sea’,  until 26 September 2021, helsinkibiennial.fi

The modernist architecture of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium has recently been given a makeover. The elegant piece of design was originally created in the 1930s, but sadly not used until the Summer Olympic Games of 1952, due to World War II. Now, following a recent, four-year-long renovation by a team of architects including K2S, NRT, White Arkitekter and Wessel de Jonge, the stadium has reopened and has been lovingly documented by New York based photographer Janne Tuunanen in tribute. 

‘I found the combination of midcentury architecture and modern design intriguing,' explains the photographer. ‘I thought the renovation of the stadium has been done really well, in terms of keeping the old aesthetic alive. Also the use of wood on the new roof as well as the new seats were pretty impressive.'

Indeed, maintaining the spirit of the original architecture was key in the restoration works. As a result, any additions feel organic (and are done mostly underground and out of sight) and the building is functional and feels up-to-date and polished. Yet it still exudes the sense of optimism and experimentation of the early modernist approach. 

Originally designed by Finnish modernist architects Yrjö Lindegren and Toivo Jäntti, the stadium features an extra tall, striking tower that has become a Helsinki landmark since its completion in 1938. The architecture blends streamlined concrete forms, sharp, white surfaces and shapes subtly remniscent of ocean liners, in typical fashion of the modernist styles of the time. Now, a new timber clad canopy protects the stalls, while the seats have been replaced by modern versions made of sustainable wood composite. 

Tuunanen was familiar with the sports facility, hailing from Finland and having visited it for sporting events – namely football – in the past. So, choosing it as the protagonist of his new artistic series felt natural - but also challenging in its own way. ‘It was a first time shooting a sports venue of this size,' he says. ‘But it did remind me of the Alvar Aalto project as the architecture is from the same era as some of the Aalto buildings.'

Tuunanen is refering to his recent series on the architecture of Alvar Aalto in Jyväskylä, which explores Finland's lesser known architectural gems by the modernist master in a simple, artful and engaging manner. In a similar way, this new, straightforwardly named ‘Helsinki Olympic Stadium' series, consists of 16 photographs, shot in late 2020. They offer a graceful, graphically arresting representation of the iconic stadium, tipping its hat to the past as it enters its 90s decade.

INFORMATION

jannetuunanen.com

How did specific pieces of European art influence the practice of contemporary artists across the globe? Why do certain artworks benefit from greater popularity than others? And what role have national museums played in defining the leading figures and key works of art history? These are the questions explored in a new show at Helskinki’s Ateneum art museum, part of the Finnish National Gallery. Titled ‘Inspiration – Contemporary Art & Classics’, it presents work by an international group of contemporary artists, alongside masterpieces by the likes of da Vinci, Raphael and Rembrandt. 

Originally conceived for the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm by curator James Putnam and museum director Susanna Pettersson, the exhibition had to close down soon after its opening date due to local lockdown measures. Happily, the show has now been reconfigured for Ateneum, led by the museum’s director, Marja Sakari, and its chief curator, Sointu Fritze. 

Sakari and Fritze drew on Ateneum’s collections and archival material, which includes replicas of works by European masters, such as Helene Schjerfbeck’s copy of Velázquez’s Infanta. ‘When Ateneum opened at the end of the 19th century it also housed an art school. At the time teaching methods meant using plaster copies of sculptures from antiquity and commissioning Finnish artists to create copies of old masters, as the cost of acquiring them was prohibitive’, explains Sakari. Some of these replicas have since become masterworks in their own right.

Aiming to create a powerful dialogue between the old and the new, the exhibition also presents a series of contemporary pieces, in an edit that emphasises the various ways through which living artists have referenced art history. This includes a commissioned sculpture by Swiss artist Sara Masüger, which portrays the Trojan priest Laocoön, a character from Greek mythology who, along with his sons, was killed by sea serpents sent by the gods. Masüger modeled her work on her own body, and that of her niece, to highlight the vulnerability of human existence, thus altering the initial narrative. ‘With many of the works in the exhibition, the themes present in the iconic works are transposed by the artists into a contemporary language without losing the power of the original artworks,’ says Sakari. 

Mat Collishaw’s photographic series Last Meal on Death Row depicts the last meals requested by death row inmates in the US, in a style that bears a striking resemblance to Dutch still-life paintings in the age of Vermeer. Likewise, Marina Abramovic and Ulay’s Pieta (Anima Mundi) shows the artists assuming the poses of the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, much like the Michelangelo sculpture housed in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

By connecting past and present, ‘Inspiration’ encourages a wider audience to engage with Western classical art. ‘If the exhibition encourages people to look again at Old Masters with fresh eyes, I think it will have succeeded,’ continues Sakari.

‘In difficult times we can find solace in art. It can be comforting to know that while the works in the exhibition were produced centuries apart they reveal the artists’ and our shared preoccupations as human beings.’

INFORMATION
‘Inspiration – Contemporary Art & Classics’ is at Ateneum, part of the Finnish National Gallery. 18 June – 20 September 2020; ateneum.fi

ADDRESS

Kaivokatu 2
00100 Helsinki
Finland

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Dinner time at Ateljé Finn, one of Helsinki’s most fashionable restaurants. I was with representatives of the city, Maarit Kivistö and Pekka Timonen. While they tucked into a delicious (they said) slice of horse (I ate reindeer), I mentioned how much I was looking forward to a proper sauna. Not a spell in the charmless wooden cupboards provided elsewhere in the world, but a real Finnish sauna – at once mystical and a source of national pride.

Traditionally, in Finland, people were born in a sauna, and taken there after death to be cleaned: it was the cleanest room in the house or village, and it had hot water. Public saunas account for Finland’s extraordinarily egalitarian ethos: when you are naked in the sauna, nobody is better than anybody else. ‘You can be a general or a top businessman,’ Timonen explained, ‘and it makes no difference.’

The great Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto proposed a ‘Cultural Sauna’ as a national monument in 1925, and the 1930s were a golden age, with 100 public saunas in Helsinki. But, alas, increasing prosperity saw Finns retreat into their homes to build private facilities, and the number of public saunas dropped to just two.

There remained, it’s true, traditional saunas run by the Finnish Sauna Society, in wooden huts in a pine forest some 20 minutes outside the city by bus. But these are not public saunas: they’re an experiment in elitism that seems frankly un-Finnish. Was the communal approach finished?

No, because suddenly public saunas have become (forgive me) hot again. In the autumn, Finns will be able to try the first new one to open in 50 years. A married couple, architect Tuomas Toivonen and designer Nene Tsuboi of NOW are building exactly what Aalto proposed all those years ago: a Kultuurisauna, a cultural centre, events space and sauna all in one. (On my visit, in early spring, I met Toivonen and Tsuboi at the formal ground-breaking event. It was very cold, and the sea beside us was covered in ice as far as you could see.)

Alvar Aalto’s studio was once located in his 1936 house in the Munkkiniemi district. At one point, more than 20 architects worked here; they moved to a bigger, nearby studio in 1955. The artwork (right, on ledge) is by Aalto himself

The return to public saunas is driven partly by energy policy. There are estimated to be three million saunas in a nation of just 5.4m people, and it takes a lot of power to heat up all those private spaces for three hours, usually with a massive energy surge on Saturday nights, just so their owners can sweat for 15 minutes.

To accommodate the energy spikes, dirty auxiliary plants need to be fired up at some cost to the environment, but also in cash terms. Providing households with smart metres may help encourage people to embrace a cheaper, cleaner solution. But more needs to be done, because Helsinki, which celebrates its 200th year as Finland’s capital, is growing fast. Planners expect to see the population rise from 1.2m people today to 1.6m in just five years. Toivonen and Tsuboi’s new shared sauna, powered by woodchips, is just one initiative to minimise the impact of such growth. But public saunas aren’t only about saving energy, as everybody kept telling me. They bring people together. And for that reason, to make sure that my first experience would be a convivial one, Kivistö and Timonen decided to find somebody to accompany me.

The following morning, at breakfast in my hotel, I picked up my cup and studied it carefully. It was blue, almost turquoise. It widened slightly towards the top, enabling waiters to stack it with others of the same kind. It was not huge, but I liked that – and the handle was not too small either. It wasn’t dainty. Although fine, the ceramic felt dense, and sturdy. In short, it was simple, robust and looked great. A design classic, as the words on the base confirmed: it was a ‘Teema’, from the fine company of Iittala. I placed it on a sheet of paper listing my busy itinerary, and took a photograph. If I had a moment to spare, I would buy a cup exactly like it – bring one home with me, as a souvenir from Helsinki, the World Design Capital for 2012. In Finland, the design tradition has very much been about the elaboration of modest, practical goods for the population at large, like this cup, rather than elaborate one-offs for aristocrats. But Kivistö and Timonen went to great lengths to describe how the year of design is about much more than products. It’s being used to improve the quality of life and to nudge Finns towards ‘better’ behaviour. In their attempt to get me to understand this, they had me prowling the guano-encrusted upper precincts of an abandoned abattoir, drinking champagne with teenage fashion bloggers, losing myself in silence at a church that was not a church, discussing with the city’s leading architects the pressing need for more tower blocks, drinking fermented cabbage juice at an upmarket food retailer that sells only Finnish foodstuffs, and alcohol, late into the night, with a group of specialist beer and wine suppliers from overseas.

But design is also about product, and not only manufactured product. When Kivistö turned up to meet me one day, wearing a dark coat that she had customised by painstakingly embroidering a traditional floral design on it, she can hardly have known that home-made clothes are an obsession of mine, and that I would blog about her handiwork at once, using my prehistoric Nokia phone. Nor did she seem to understand why I was so fascinated by the Nokia smartphone she carried around – of a type I could not remember ever seeing people use in the UK. But later in the week she seized the chance to combine my interest in fashion and smartphones by taking me to a catwalk show for the country’s leading label, Ivana Helsinki, and shoving me towards one of the other guests there, Nokia’s design director, Marko Ahtisaari.

Helsinki’s famed Temppeliaukio Church, by architect brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen, opened in 1969. Built into the rock in the city’s Töölö neighbourhood, it has excellent acoustics and is often used for concerts

For years now, people outside Finland have tended to associate the country largely with one thing: Nokia. But recently Nokia has faltered. The day before I met Ahtisaari – whose father is the Nobel-winning former president of Finland – he’d made a speech declaring that Nokia was about to unleash something revolutionary. Finns were particularly struck by the word vallankumouksellinen (revolutionary) because it seemed rather a grand claim by Finnish standards. In person, Ahtisaari was amiable, not messianic. Nor would he elaborate, but days later Nokia launched its new handset, the Lumia 900, with huge fanfare. In the weeks that followed the phone was found to have problems. And not long afterwards Nokia lost (to Samsung) its 14-year record as manufacturer of more handsets than anybody else.

Another loss to Korea were the shipyards. Finland has a good reputation for shipbuilding – ice-breakers are a speciality – but a Korean company bought Helsinki’s shipyards some time ago, and observers think it’s only a matter of time before the work, too, is taken overseas. All the same, heavy industry and hi-tech still flourish: Kone, the world’s greatest escalator manufacturer, is Finnish; as is Rovio, creator of the massively successful Angry Birds game. But the question for Finland is how to remain ahead.

One possible answer is to be found on the corner of a busy shopping street, beside an upmarket art gallery. The building used to house a piano shop. Today, it represents an experiment in bringing the great ideas to the population at large. Helsinki University leased the building and fitted it out with cheap furniture and encouraging slogans (one wall reads: ‘Hel-thinki’). The idea is to get ordinary people inside to hear academics talk about their work. Hardly a money spinner, but the cost has been reduced by subletting space to a bookshop and a coffee seller; and anyway, the point is to make it easy for taxpayers who fund the university to see the fruit of their investment. When I visited, there was a talk about growing food on green roofs – something the university is helping to install at the new Kultuurisauna.

For Finns who don’t want to fill their minds here, another new space recently became available to empty them. The Chapel of Silence, in the busiest part of town, serves as a meeting place and a spot for quiet reflection. The institution reaching out here is the Lutheran church, which commissioned Kimmo Lintula of K2S Architects to build the chapel as a haven rather than a church – though church employees, and social services, are there if anyone needs them. The curved shape stands out amid the sharp corners of nearby shops. But the most remarkable thing is that the chapel is made of wood – spruce on the outside, black alder inside. Finland has vast forests, and an abundance of timber, but until recently it was difficult to build large structures in wood, because it was deemed to be a fire hazard.

No such regulations apply in neighbouring Sweden, designers complained. ‘One country says wood burns, the other says it’s OK,’ says Marco Steinberg, of the national innovation body, Sitra. ‘That’s a cultural rather than a technical point. So when we talk about creating change, we’re often talking about cultural change rather than technical innovation.’ Sitra is renovating a whole city block, to reduce environmental impact to the lowest possible: like the chapel, the Low2No block will shun concrete, as much as possible, in favour of wood – now that the law allows it.

For years, Finland has been burdened with extraordinary regulations. Believe it or not, it was, until recently, forbidden to buy a round of drinks in a bar or carry your drink to another table. (The country has a strong tradition of getting smashed together, but also a hardcore temperance movement.) Now, young Finns are pulling down those regulations, or ignoring them.

Last year, Tio Tikka bought a truck and spent €30,000 renovating it, so he could take to the streets selling coffee and crêpes. But the city authorities refused him a permit. This prompted a massive upswell of popular support for Tikka, including a Facebook campaign. That campaign, in turn, helped to inspire Restaurant Day, in which households all over the country opened their doors to neighbours to cook for them – a mass breach of regulations the government was powerless to stop. One of the founders, Kirsti Tuominen, told me: ‘Finland is a very bureaucratic country. Although we should be proud of the welfare state we have, people have come to expect the government to do everything. Restaurant Day has proved that people are willing to act together to change things for the better.’

Restaurant Day has since been repeated several times, taken up in several other countries, and led to spin-off events. Tuominen invited me to one, a pop-up lunchtime disco. The idea is simple: register beforehand to find out the location, then dance for an hour or so with strangers and friends alike before taking away a prepared lunch box to eat at your desk.

Rather than crack down on these popular events which may break regulations, the authorities seem to be asking, how can we find more? One person helping in that search is Antto Melasniemi. Once keyboard player in Finland’s most successful rock band, His Infernal Majesty, Melasniemi gave up rock and roll to turn himself into a kind of celebrity chef, with his own restaurants and bars. (Including Ateljé Finn, where I watched Kivistö and Timonen eat horse.)

If you can imagine for a moment that Noel Gallagher had given up rock and roll to become, essentially, Jamie Oliver – well, that’s Melasniemi. Only he’s taller, bear-like, with a shaven head, an expression that swings between a scowl and a radiant grin, and a gruff voice with which he utters pithy observations in idiomatic English, perfected during a spell as a chef in London. (One of his favourite expressions is ‘supercool’ – a term he applies generously to much that his eyes fall on.)

Melasniemi is helping the city to overhaul a derelict abattoir. Opening in the autumn, this will involve farmers’ markets and pop-up restaurants – both things Melasniemi knows well. He’s known for his local food ethic, including much foraged material, and events where he uses mirrors to focus sunlight on cooking pots. (If the sun doesn’t shine, the food isn’t cooked. So relax! Have a drink!)

One afternoon I clambered around the upper level of the abattoir with him. He looked over a rusting gantry and gestured towards the icy, cavernous space below, where amateur, Restaurant Day pop-ups might one day, with guidance, become something more lasting. ‘What we are offering here is a training school.’

By working with the government, Melasniemi had become, in effect, the kind of embedded designer that Steinberg told me about. In his previous life, as a teacher at Harvard, Steinberg became interested in why great ideas didn’t happen. ‘Was the architect not good enough? Or was the client not enlightened. I decided that we need to grow more enlightened clients.’ Government support for the World Design Capital made it possible for Steinberg and his allies to widen the discussion, and talk about making design a part of every organisation. He set up a scheme, Inside Job, to embed designers inside every company and public sector body – at board level, like economists. ‘It’s not about bringing design to government. It’s about growing it from the inside. I think of it as a kind of virus.’

A lot of the food initiatives are about rebuilding community, getting people to sit down and break bread together. In part, this is about embracing diversity. The population has changed from six per cent non-Finns to seven per cent – in just a year. ‘Food is a great way to get people to know each other,’ says Melasniemi.

A good example of this is the event he put on where guests were offered free food if they contributed an old plate and a story about it: ‘This old plate was a wedding gift in 1976,’ said one. ‘Since then, it has been in daily use. We have enjoyed morning cereal for years off this tableware. These dishes and my happy marriage have lasted all these years.’

I was reminded of that Iittala cup at my hotel, which I’d found eventually at the Arabia factory where they are made. And while I was there I discovered another, time-honoured example of designers being embedded within a company. By long-standing arrangement, the enlightened manufacturer has provided space on its top floor for ceramicists to make their own art, with a back door elevator connecting them directly to the factory, and free use of materials and kiln. I met one of the younger designers, Heini Riitahuhta, and also looked around the messy studio of Kim Simonsson, whose gothic ceramic figures came to the world’s attention when Charles Saatchi started buying them. (Simonsson’s work, especially, taps into the mystical, melancholic yet humorous Finnish tradition, perhaps more often associated with Slavs.) But what seemed so particularly civilised about the embedding of these artists was that the company makes no specific demands of them: there’s no requirement that they produce anything whatever for mass production. But they usually do, anyway. ‘Both sides benefit,’ confirmed Riitahuhta, working when I met her on a floral design for tableware.

At the beautiful 1920s Yrjönkatu public baths, I strode into the changing cubicle provided, noted that a bed had been supplied (you should never hurry a sauna), and took off all my clothes before striding out again. Catching up with Melasniemi, I followed him into the shower area, and pretended not to be surprised to find a woman offering massage to men going in and out of the sauna. Then I walked boldly inside the dark steam room and headed for the top bench. Melasniemi sat on my right. To my left, a couple of older men were speaking in low voices.

I tried to taste the lölyly. The word means something like steam, but it has deeper meaning too. ‘It also means something more like, “ancestors”,’ Timonen told me. The best sauna is the one with the best lölyly: a balance of humidity, how long it lasts, and how it embraces you. The lölyly at Yrjönkatu seemed good to me: not too dry, not too humid. But hot. After a short while, Melasniemi left the room. I knew I should not regard the sauna as a competition, but felt pleased to have lasted as long as him.

A couple of young men came in. Politely, they consulted the older men before adding more water. Then more older men came in. They might have been top businessmen, or generals – but obviously I couldn’t tell. Then a young man whose toned musculature suggested gym membership. Then a fat man. Then the first pair of older men departed – and I followed soon after, rejoining Melasniemi on the balcony overlooking the pool. I was glad to see him, a near-stranger who, after our sauna together, felt like an old friend. We’d been cold earlier. Now our skin was pink and our bodies warm.

In the next couple of days, he would generously take me to his other restaurants, and to the city’s only other public sauna – the shabbier but similarly atmospheric Kotiharjun, in a working class district. There, between late-evening bouts of steam, we retreated to sit on a wall on the residential street outside – a line of pink, all-but naked men who would have looked extremely odd in London, but were taken for granted in Helsinki. But that was still to come.

At Yrjönkatu, a waitress (fully clothed) approached us in our nakedness and took an order from Melasniemi. (Once again, I tried to look like this was no big deal.) Melasniemi ordered beers, a dish of herring on rye and a side order of pickled cucumbers with sour cream and honey to dip them in. Casually, he mentioned he had been called in to help design the menu here. It dawned on me, with some relief, that his generous offer to show me round Helsinki had not been entirely without self-interest.

Then the food came. It was delicious.

As tourist board's globally attempt to innovate their way through the ‘new normal’, the typically forward-thinking and digitally-minded team in Helsinki has developed one of the more interesting pandemic coping strategies that we've seen. The city has partnered with local virtual reality firm ZOAN to power-up its Virtual Helsinki platform, opening up design icons like the Alvar Aalto residence and studio, and hosting its traditional May Day celebration in a format which ‘gamifies’ the city.

Having been crowned as the most innovative region in the EU by the European Commission in 2019, Helsinki is at the forefront of utilising digital innovation to create democratic and sustainable solutions for people to experience the city – something that is paying dividends now, in a time of crisis.

Virtual Helsinki has been in the works for over two years. The project sees a ‘digital twin’ of Helsinki built in Unreal Engine using 3D modelling from open data provided by the city, merged this with a series of drawings, hand-crafted modelling and imagery to create one of the world’s most realistic VR experiences.

The Aalto House – the residence of the Scandinavian modernist pioneer Alvar Aalto – is the crown jewel of the project, which also offers virtual visitors (or ‘avatars') the opportunity to participate in activities, visit the historical centre of Senate Square, and archipelago Lonna Island. In the case of Aalto House, which is usually only accessible via pre-booked guided tours, the VR experience throws open the landmark’s doors to a global audience. Design students in particular will benefit: while VR and 360-degree videos are used as a marketing tool by many destinations, Virtual Helsinki goes a step further, allowing visitors to move about freely in the digital simulation of Helsinki, shaping their own experience.

Though the platform will undoubtedly benefit those seeking culture and interaction during lockdown, it will remain live indefinitely, presenting an innovative blueprint for how global communities access cities in the future. Further destinations and landmarks will be added to the experience over the coming months including Vallisaari Island, set to host the inaugural Helsinki Biennial.

INFORMATION

Access Virtual Helsinki here – no headset is required

May Day celebrations will take place from 5pm on Thursday 30 April 2020

Silent beauty. It’s a phrase that perfectly captures the shared aesthetic of two remote parts of the world. One is the Nordic region – especially Finland and neighbouring Sweden – the other is East Asia; mainly Japan, with ancestral influences from Korea and China. An exhibition by the same name combines the collection of Helsinki’s Ateneum (one of three museums forming the Finnish National Gallery), where the show is being held, alongside pieces from the Japan Folk Crafts Museum in Tokyo.

On display are mainly ceramics and paintings, dotted with sculptures, textiles and architecture, which explore the countries’ artistic synergy. The timing is apt: this year marks the centenary of diplomatic relations between Finland and Japan. The show’s time span is elastic: focusing on pre- and post-World Wars, yet sometimes diverting to Korea’s Joseon dynasty (15th century) or the present day.

The opening section profiles Yanagi Sōetsu, art critic, philosopher and father of the Mingei movement, initiated in 1925. His campaign, which emphasised the beauty of everyday objects in simplified shapes, culminated in the opening of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum in 1936. Yanagi had visited Stockholm in 1929 and played a key role in Japan’s embrace of Nordic aesthetics.

Meanwhile, Finnish and Swedish artists were discovering Japanese sensibilities through techniques and materials like woodcut printing and Japanese handcrafted paper, exhibited in Paris or at the Venice Biennale. This section’s display starts with a 19th-century haori, a kimono-style coat. The simple lines and geometric motifs of the garment, which was used as fireman’s uniform, illustrate the beauty in a functional item made by an unknown craftsperson. Coincidentally, its motifs also recall the universe of iconic Finnish design house Marimekko.

The next room is largely dedicated to landscapes, starting with an oil painting by Helene Schjerfbeck. The strong connection to nature highlights similarities between the Far East and the far north. Then a great number of stoneware and earthenware pieces appear including slender-shaped jugs and bottles by Kyllikki Salmenhaara, which recall the stretching cedar tree, while minimally shaped plates and bowls by Kanjiro Kawai and Shōji Hamada lend a sense of dynamism.

‘According to Hamada, it takes sixty seconds to apply his decorative technique, but it took him sixty years to learn it’, says Anne-Marie Pennanen, the show’s curator, pointing out the calligraphy-like motif on the plate. As a backdrop to the pottery, two stencil-dye (Katazome) works by Samiro Yunoki are displayed on the wall.

‘Silent Beauty’ unfolds as a perpetual dialogue between different disciplines. Its flow is organic, guided by themes such as winter, fire, still lifes and black and white. The show also includes ceramics by Bernard Leach, paintings by Ufan Lee, and abstract paintings and sculptures by the Finnish couple Ahti and Maija Lavonen. Among the qualities juxtaposed throughout this exhibition, such as harmony, calmness, cleanness, simplicity, patience, the most prominent of all is pure silence. Here, silence is more golden than ever.

INFORMATION

‘Silent Beauty: Nordic and East-Asian Interaction’, until 6 October, Ateneum. ateneum.fi

ADDRESS

Ateneum
Kaivokatu 2
00100 Helsinki

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‘I think it’s quite unique to build a library in a city today,’ says Jan Vapaavuori, mayor of Helsinki. The city has just opened Oodi, a new central library designed by Finnish architecture firm ALA located opposite the Helsinki’s Parliament House on Finland’s 101th anniversary of independence. What makes Oodi even more unique, is that it’s also an ‘open user platform’ for sewing, gaming, 3D printing, playing music, soldering, cooking and socialising.

This doesn’t seem to be as radical to the Fins, as it does to those from other countries around the world. Libraries have long operated in Finnish society as community hubs that are flexible and functional in many ways – and that’s probably one of the reasons why Finland is known for its credentials in literacy and education. ‘From the very beginning we realised the only real natural resource we have is human capital,’ says Vapaavuori, ‘Oodi symbolises our way of putting people first.’

The architectural competition for the library launched in 2012 with a record number of 546 entries – in Finland’s typically fair and democratic way, open calls for architectural competitions are also anonymous. It was an opportunity to design a national monument in the very centre of the city neighbouring Parliament House, Alvar Aalto’s Finlandia Hall, the Kiasma designed by Steven Holl and the Helsinki Music Centre.

ALA, with their first major cultural building, a theatre and concert hall in Kristiansand, Norway, just under their belt, entered. Antti Nousjoki, partner at ALA, who had previously worked for five years on OMA’s Seattle Public Library, brought his international experience and local knowledge of the Finnish library system to the project – ‘Growing up in a small town, the library is like an extension of your home,’ he says.

The design process started with an analysis of function, which was a lot more varied than you might expect. As well as a library, the architecture has to express the public role of a national monument, and provide space for the activities destined for it from music studios to gaming rooms, a kitchen and workshops – all accessible with a library card.

The architects landed on a plan for three levels; an open ground floor; a floating box; and a space on top of the box. This followed the need for a welcoming, social space worthy of its location, a black box maker space with a matrix of rooms for multimedia activities and also, the traditional library with bookcases.

The team then worked with structural engineers to achieve a solution that would leave as much open column free space where it was needed. A 100m arched bridge of steel is the basis for the design. The two open-plan levels sit above and beneath the bridge, while the makers space occupies the bridge itself, and a double spiral staircase connects all three together. ‘The overall shape is not primarily structural, it’s functional and sociological. Its a manipulated diagram of these three conditions,’ says Nousjoki.

Filled with light and rows of Libreria CF bookcases in white-painted aluminium designed by Dante Bonuccelli and manufactured by UniFor, the upper library space is the crowning jewel of the building. Like an undulating halo, the vast roof’s soft curves feature scoops of circular skylights. Nousjoki describes how in certain lights the corners of the ceiling blend with the fritted glazing that wraps around the level to create a continuous cloud-like effect. As well as a source of daylight, the skylights add warm artificial light, important during the winter months, when the library will be a beacon for the city in the dark mornings and afternoons.

‘We didn’t want to make a flat box because that would have generated a large space of consistent conditions across the 4000-and-something square metres of space. By making the roof wavy, every square metre is slightly different – the acoustics, the height, the views vary, so people can take time to find a particular area to suit their mood.’

The ‘sunlit, cathedral-like library’ brings a nostalgic sense of pride and praise for the age of the book – ‘this message will become more pronounced as technology advances, or the space will become like the social open programme of the ground floor or specific niche space of the middle floor,’ says Nousjoki.

The biggest worry of Katri Vänttinen, director of the library, is that libraries will become like museums in the future. She sees vast changes in how people use the library every year – lending of the music collection is decreasing by 15 per cent every year, thanks to music giants Spotify and Youtube. Yet, Finnish libraries continue to receive visitors, responding with new resources such as the maker’s space on the first floor. It’s a space filled with tools, aimed at teens, young people and professionals, where you could spend days investigating the recording studios, kitchen, workshops and gaming studios: ‘You can do anything here, it just takes imagination,’ says Tommi Laitio, executive director of culture and leisure at City of Helsinki.

Architecturally incredible libraries are part of the fabric of Helsinki, from the impressive National Library designed by Carl Ludvig Engels in 1844 with its neoclassical rotunda extension designed by Gustaf Nyström, to Alvar Aalto’s university library framed by hanging lamps and campus views, or the uplifting Kaisa library designed by AOA in 2012 with its teardrop shaped central staircase. And far from just beautiful, they are all most importantly filled with people.

The purpose of Oodi in its central location has a strong symbolic value for the city. ‘Sharing is becoming mainstream’ says Vapaavuori, and the library welcomes activities to take place in the urban space instead of in the private home.

As well as the local community, Vapaavuori hopes that the library will tempt international talents to move to the city to work. ‘The issue of a good life is becoming more important all the time. I have conversations with the leading companies in our eco system and they face the issue of how to bring international talents to Helsinki – it’s often not just a question of how good the company, is or how lucrative the job is, it’s how well the city is placed in people’s minds and today’s youth. They value cultural, arts issues, how easy going the city is, how safe it is, how clean it is.’

‘By building a library in 2018, we want to contribute to an overall image of a liberal, transparent, open, city that values culture arts democracy, open society. In today’s world where you compete for investments and talent, soft power is gaining importance – art museums and theatres are built everywhere, but not libraries.’

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the ALA website

Finland’s capital Helsinki is one of the fastest growing cities in Europe with its current population of 645,000 inhabitants set to rise to 860,000 by 2050. A major construction boom is underway and with the docks having moved west out of the inner city to Vuosaari, vast swathes of land in central locations have now been freed up for development. Old industrial areas such as Jätkäsaari and Hernesaari (in the south-west), Pasila (in the north) and Kalasatama (in the north-east) are being transformed into residential districts, with the last two set to host new high-rise clusters, a huge change for a city with no skyscrapers until now.

As a result of the growth in population and tourism, the city is expanding its airport and recently inaugurated a new port terminal. It’s also busy extending its metro system westwards to link up with the neighbouring city of Espoo. In August the stunning new Amos Rex contemporary art museum opened (not long after the city bravely rejected plans for a Guggenheim museum due to doubts about the proposed site and the excessive amount to be paid by the taxpayer). This December the state-of-the-art Helsinki central library will open in the Töölönlahti (Toolo Bay) area, further enhancing this already existing cultural district made up of the Helsinki Music Centre (by Turku-based LPR Architects), Alvar Aalto’s Finlandia Hall and Steven Holl’s Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art.

According to Hanna Harris, director of Archinfo Finland, Amos Rex and the Helsinki Central Library Oodi, ‘are marvellous additions to the urban fabric of the city. The latter is a project that has grown out of Finland’s love of libraries and will be a well-deserved landmark for our amazing library system,' she says. ‘It is also very much an urban project that will bring to the city centre a large public space for contemplation, learning, doing and sharing.’ Yet Harris is keen to point out smaller recently completed gems in the city such as Maunula House by Architects K2S, a cultural centre and learning hub in the northern suburban neighbourhood of Maunula that opened in 2017, or the recent restoration by Mustonen Architects of Arne Ervi’s beautiful Töölö library built in 1970. ‘These are both projects that will stand the test of time and tap into the very heart of Helsinki and its people,' says Harris.

Elsewhere in the city, iconic buildings have also been refurbished, such as the Parliament building (which was extended in 2004 and fully upgraded and renovated between 2015-17 by Helin & Co Architects), or the 1952 Palace restaurant located in a building of great architectural value and wonderful views that was first constructed for the Olympics. Rautatalo (Iron House), an office building designed by Alvar Aalto and completed in 1955 that used to have a café inside, has also renovated its facades and interiors and reopened its covered marble courtyard to the public in 2017. After almost 30 years of closure, locals and visitors can now have lunch in its affordable canteen-style restaurant. For a city that is architecturally abuzz, it seems fitting that a new design and architecture museum is also being mooted for the not-too-distant future. Watch this space.

When Antti Eerikäinen asked Studio Joanna Laajisto to design a bar inspired by 60s Italian lounge and 70s French cosmic disco, there was method to his madness. For at Jackie, while the pizza menu by Antto Melasniemi – the inventive chef behind Helsinki stalwarts like Ateljé Finne and Putte’s –  is a draw,  it’s the DJ that reigns supreme.

This being Helsinki, the acid patterns and glittering surfaces associated with such a musical brief were eschewed in favour of a more sophisticated, moody aesthetic. Walls are a steely green, tabletops and flooring are marble, and furnishings are wood (banded Sapele and Walnut) the latter used to silken effect in Konstantin Grcic’s origami-esque ‘Medici’ chairs.

The segmented tan leather sofa running the length of one wall and greyhound-brown curtains are Laajisto’s sole concessions to decadence in this austere, yet inviting space that is part boutique hotel lobby, part mid-century Milanese bar.

INFORMATION

Website

ADDRESS

Iso Robertinkatu 21

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This week marks the opening of a major new art space for Helsinki designed by JKMM Architects. Both subtle and striking, Amos Rex is a new, much larger and more hi-tech venue for the Finnish capital's private Amos Anderson art museum. The project inhabits a part of the iconic 1930s functionalist masterpiece Lasipalatsi (or Glass Palace) in central Helsinki, as well as a series of underground galleries offering 2,200 sq m of flexible space and plenty of natural light, thanks to some rather futuristic-looking domed skylights that bubble up into the square above.

The ticket office and all-important museum shop are located in the historic building, which was designed by three young architectural students – Viljo Revell, Heimo Riihimäki and Niilo Kokko – as a mixed-use pavilion with a restaurant, shops and cinema to serve the 1940 Olympic Games (these were eventually postponed to 1952). ‘Lasipalatsi was intended to be a temporary building but it was very well built,’ explains Asmo Jaaksi, founding partner at JKMM and lead architect on the project. It was ‘pioneering and experimental’, he says, pointing to features like its neon lighting and large glazed windows with sun blinds.

The project included the refurbishment and extension of the existing, landmark Lasipalatsi building in Central Helsinki.

Lasipalatsi has been beautifully and sensitively restored throughout and also updated technically, the aspect of the project Jaaksi admits was the most challenging. Its listed 590-seat cinema with its original red velvet and tubular steel stairs and geometric-patterned rubber flooring will now become a regular cinema on weekends again, as well as an events space and the building’s restaurant has also been restored and offers some of the best food in the city. From the ground floor of Lasipalatsi a dramatic staircase overlooks a window onto the new piazza and brings visitors down into the main museum foyer, which is flooded in natural light and features a ceiling of illuminated white fabric swirls that appear to gently waft above you.

Throughout the rest of the 2,200 sq m of monochrome galleries, the angled roof lights – which artfully frame sections of the Lasipalatsi and the square above – can be left uncovered or not according to the needs of each show. The rolling sculptural landscape of concrete tile-clad hills above ground can also be programmed. It seems hard to believe that at one time this new public space composed of tiled funnels and hills housed the city’s main bus station. In the past few weeks it has been taken over by locals and visitors who can be seen sitting, skating and walking over its undulating landscape. But the museum itself is sure to attract a wide audience too with its crowd-pleasing interactive and immersive first exhibition by Japan-based digital projection masters teamLab called ‘Massless’.

Perhaps it’s thanks to the museum’s historic presence in the city, its large and state-of-the-art educational facilities and galleries or the use of a much-loved Helsinki landmark such as Lasipalatsi as its main entrance and calling card, but Amos Rex feels very much of its place and for its city. For its part the city seems to have already reciprocated and taken to it in no uncertain terms.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the JKMM Architects website

Not that it needed one, but Helsinki’s inexorable rise through the hipster ranks has been given a boost with the arrival of the sleek Kitchen & Bar by Maannos in the city’s south-western ’hood of Punavuori.

Set in an agreeably historic pile, parts of which date back to 1898 and which is filled with media and creative offices, the industrial bones of the high-ceilinged space have been fleshed out by Laura Seppänen in a calm, thoughtful palette of sandy, clay hues. This is mixed with the sturdy lines of concrete tables, storage units made of metallic nets, Gubi ‘Beetle’ chairs, and tube lamps by Atelier Areti. Underlying the colour and material choices – including walls of chalk clay plaster and timber sourced from the farm of one of the owners – is a subtle homage to Finland’s natural landscapes.

The food, meanwhile, is based on a ‘farm to table’ philosophy, co-owner and chef Elmo Luoma-aho casting locally sourced, seasonal vegetables in the starring role, with meat in walk-in parts; though, with the city currently bathing in extravagant sunshine, there’s every reason to savour every bite of the rainbow trout, grilled whole and served with pickled carrots, barley and a light buttermilk sauce.

ADDRESS

Telakkakatu 5

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Even the most cursory glance will tell you that there is no shortage of beautifully proportioned 19th- and 20th-century architecture in Helsinki. Little wonder too that savvy hoteliers have long been spoilt for choice in scouting locations in which to open new outposts.

Like the Kämp Collection Hotels group whose latest venture, Hotel St George, is set in an imposing edifice built in the 1840s, but which wasn’t fully completed till 1890 by local architect Onni Tarjanne, who also worked on the Finnish National Theatre. A landmark in central Helsinki, the seven-storey building has now been restored into a sleek 153-room hotel. The interiors by Nordic Light and Mirkku Kullberg (the ex-CEO at Artek and head of the home department at Vitra) are dressed in a calm palette of pale olive hues, parquet floors, Santo Tomas marble tiles, and warm chocolate drapes, alongside modernist furniture such as Hjort af Örnäs armchairs and Finnish abstract art.

The best room in the house is the third-floor St George Suite whose windows open out into Old Church Park. The hotel’s heart, though, is the Wintergarden Bar, awash with light streaming in through the glass roof, though the Finnish and Turkish executive chefs Antto Melasniemi and Mehmet Gürs certainly deserve some attention at the house restaurant Andrea. 

INFORMATION
Website

ADDRESS

Yrjönkatu 13c

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It’s hardly hyperbole to state that the Fifties and Sixties represented a golden age in Finnish architecture and design, their influence still felt in the work of a great many contemporary studios. 

This explains the quality of timelessness evoked by the refurbished Palace Restaurant, its views of Helsinki’s harbour, the market square and the old town much as they were when the Viljo Rewell-designed Palace Hotel opened in 1952. 

SARC Architects worked with the Helsinki City Museum to reconfigure and protect Olli Borg’s original features like the mahogany and elm panels in the ceiling and the lobby area, while Stockholm-based Note Design Studio added fresh earthy colours, mustard terrazzo, customised pink serving trolleys, and re-upholstered Borg’s original furniture. 

The light-infused space sets the stage for executive chefs Hans Välimäki and Eero Vottonen to present their take on modern Finnish cuisine including truffle-scented turbot, and Challans duck breasts, their earthiness nicely balanced with sour plums and cabbage. 

INFORMATION

Website

ADDRESS

Eteläranta 10
10th floor

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Despite its flashy, copper facade, OOPEAA’s Suvela Chapel, located on a former parking lot in the Helsinki suburb of Espoo, sits lightly in its surrounds. The U-shaped volume fully extends to the perimeter, allowing for a peaceful inner courtyard. Occupying one arm of the U, the soaring main chapel projects onto the street-facing northeast corner. Offices reside in the connecting mid-section, while tranquil community spaces are situated in the other arm.

At its heighest, the chapel vaults to 12m

Juxtaposed against the modesty of the church’s single level, sweeping changes in height deliver architectural drama: while the office wing has a standard ceiling height of 2.8m, the chapel vaults up to 12m. The relatively restricted materials palette of copper and Finnish spruce further heightens the striking contrast between exterior and interior spaces. While the copper steals the limelight street-side, the chapel’s contemplative interiors are clad in spruce. In time, however, the copper will weather and darken, settling in comfortably to its suburban landscape.

As originally featured in the November 2016 issue of Wallpaper* (W*212)

In time the copper will weather and darken

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the OOPEAA website

There’s nowhere in Helsinki quite like the new Iittala and Arabia Design Centre shop. Located in the former Arabia factory, it brings classics, bestsellers and limited edition pieces by both brands under one roof for the first time.

The new store is one of many homeware outlets within what has become popular shopping mall for design tourists, and aficionados will not be disappointed with this new addition. Arabia’s 'Paratiisi' tableware from 1968 is there, alongside the perennially popular 'Kastehelmi' range, Kaj Franck’s pared back crockery and new editions such as the delicate 'Flora' glassware.

Arabia opened its first factory in the neighbourhood in 1873, and quickly became the go-to tableware brand for almost every Finnish household. As well as offering the best of both brands, some displays explain the making process behind many of the pieces, which in the case of Iittala, are made at its glassblowing factory in Hameenlinna, two hours from Helsinki.

Last month, Arabia's new Design Museum opened on the ninth floor of the same building. It feels similar to the store, but has pieces dating back to 1873, carefully displayed as a timeline under glass bell jars. Rare pieces such as ‘ice fantasy sculptures’ designed by the late Tapio Wirkkala in his hut in Lapland sit next to rough edged Finlandia glassware by the late Timo Sarpaneva. Nine Arabia studios also house ceramic artists in residence.

Next year, Finland celebrates 100 years of independence. To mark the occasion, mother company Fiskars, which includes Iittala, Arabia and Hackmans in its portfolio, will launch 45 limited edition products. Among them are ten Arabia mugs, each representing a different decade and a new range of 'Kastehelmi' tableware in blue (Finland’s national colour). They also gifting a 40-hectare forest, established in 1649 as an iron works in the village of Fiskars, to the nation.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Iittala and Arabia website 

ADDRESS

Hämeentie 135 A
00560 Helsinki

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Flanked on either side of the design calendar by heavy-hitters Maison et Objet and London Design Festival, Helsinki Design Week might easily be overlooked – not that Finland’s quietly spirited designers would allow it. Attracting some 158,000 visitors – a whopping 32 per cent increase on last year’s figures – the twelfth edition of the Nordic festival was a confidently Finnish affair, with 256 exhibitions, installations and events celebrating largely local talent.

This year’s landmark project HDW HOP unfolded across the city in the form of an installation trail. Berlin-based art collective Plastique Fantastique kicked off proceedings by wrapping Helsinki’s historic Three Smiths sculpture in an inflatable plastic bubble, which hosted workshops, lectures and a local jazz band to boot. Elsewhere in the city, Finnish mainstays Marimekko invited viewers to take a closer look at its flagship store windows, while Iittala’s collection of glass birds nested in a gloriously verdant installation.

New to the programme, Design Diplomacy saw a dozen foreign embassies including Slovakia and Japan open their doors to the public for a series of lively discussions between Finnish designers and host countries. Adventurous design pilgrims could indulge in Finland’s famed sauna culture with a series of talks taking place across five public hotspots, including the recently unveiled Löyly, a striking, waterfront timber structure by Avanto Architects.

At Messukeskus convention centre, Habitare brought together the latest in Finnish furniture. It may lack the scale and breadth of its Swedish or Milanese counterparts but there was still plenty of talent to discover among the stands, where a showcase of young emerging designers proved to be a special highlight in the Talentshop section. Upstairs, Showroom was a new addition to the fair, conceived as a spatial design and lighting event aimed at professionals. Here, brands displayed their offerings against a theatrical setting devised by ALA Architects.

As the country gears up for its centenary celebrations next year, feisty Finland is eager to flex its design muscle. If this edition of HDW is anything to go by, we’re in for a thrilling show.

INFORMATION

Helsinki Design Week 2016 ran from 1–11 September. For more information, visit the Helsinki Design Week website

This year, Finnish design firm Artek turns 80, and the brand is celebrating in style, adding vibrant new upholstery colourways to its classic 'Domus' chair, and relocating to a spacious new flagship in Helsinki. Longstanding collaborators Iittala have got in on the anniversary action, adding a commemorative grey-scale edition to its time-honoured 'Alvar Aalto' vase collection. Artek even took time out of its busy birthday year to co-create some nifty nesting trays for Hotel Wallpaper*.

If that wasn't enough, Artek are set to launch a range of new finishes for the iconic 'L-leg' chairs – from leathers to lacquers and linoleum. As they riff on a classic, we look back on the chair's conception, in 1933, when Artek was but a fledgling idea in the mind of a group of Finnish idealists. It's our small way of raising a glass to 80 years of exemplary design.

The 'L-leg' came into being thanks to Alvar Aalto's adventures in wood bending techniques, which were a new phenomena in the 1930s. With the help of furniture manufacturer Otto Korhonen, Aalto developed a combination of cutting and steaming local Birch wood in order for it to become malleable.

Since then, the technique has remained pretty much the same: after being soaked in water, multiple vertical saw cuts are made in the end of a piece of wood a few millimeters apart – the deeper the cut, the bigger the bend. Then, thin strips of veneer are inserted into these slits and glued, increasing the stability of the finished component.

Aalto had an inkling he was on to a good thing with the 'L-leg' – early on he referred to it as 'the little sister of the architectural column'. Originally designed for 'Stool 60', it soon established itself as an anchor for the wider Artek collection. The beauty of the thing is its versatility – the 'L-leg' can be used as the basis for any number of seats, stools and tables. It has quite literally propped up hundreds of variations since it was patented in the 1930s. The technique has also spawned bending experiments in other materials, like steel, as we saw last year in Artek's 'Kaari' (or 'arch') collaboration with the Bouroullecs.

Aesthetically, these curves have become a defining feature of Artek's designs – flicking through a 2016 catalogue, the memory of Aalto's early bending experiments can be seen in every contemporary curve. But the 'L-leg' also represents Artek's ethos: fusing emerging technologies with art, in order to be true ambassadors and pioneers of Nordic design.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Artek website

Photography courtesy Artek

For over four decades, meat-loving Finns descended on the Beefy Queen in loyal packs, completely at home in the steak house’s unapologetically dated diner-styled décor. What a sleek change the interior designer Joanna Laajisto has wrought for the new tenant Ox, whose owners – a quartet of young, experienced restaurateurs – have cleverly spotted a gap for modern Middle-Eastern flavours based on fresh Finnish produce.

Laajisto responded to the menu and the small space by lining the walls with mint-green corrugated metal panels, and installing customised lights and vintage table lamps that cast interesting shadows and patterns.

The best seats in the house are the Thonet high-stools along the timber and marbled bar which commands a view of the open kitchen and its disciplined choreography. The lamb tartare with roasted almond crème and dukkah, and the twice-cooked pork belly paired with fried Jerusalem artichokes and fermented lemon tick all our boxes.

INFORMATION

Website

ADDRESS

Pieni Roobertinkatu 13

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Last week’s party to celebrate the reopening of the Helsinki City Museum set the tone for the people’s cultural destination. The museum, which relates life in the old days in the Finnish capital, has just moved to a new, bigger premises designed by local firm Arkkitehdit Davidsson Tarkela.

With its free access, super-generous public spaces and user-friendly exhibits, the museum feels decidedly non-elitist. Likewise, the buzzy launch party comprised a broader spectrum of guests than most such events, with local families outnumbering city officials and art world professionals.

HCM’s new €11m home in the city's historic Tori Quarters is a collection of five buildings dating from the 1750s and positioned around a courtyard. Architect Aki Davidsson was tasked with providing as much exhibition and public space as possible. 'It was quite a headache to work out how the buildings would connect,' he says. Part of his solution was to replace a poorly built 1960s wing and remove a set of stairs, which allowed him to install a lift with access to all floors.

The museum’s entrance is an expression of accessibility, with the large lobby furnished by interiors agency Kakadu Oy to encourage visitors to dwell. Outsized carved wooden animals by artist Jasmin Anoschkin are interspersed with a melange of modern and vintage seating. The piece de resistance is Kakadu’s 15m-long ‘timeline’ sofa, a knitting together of different periods of banquette seating along the back wall.

Throughout the buildings, which had formerly been government offices, Davidsson Tarkela stripped the interiors of partition walls and false ceilings, working with 1960s additions put in by brutalist Aarno Ruusuvuori, the architect of Helsinki’s City Hall.

However, architect Taina Laine’s 1961 Falkman building remains, complete with its stylish spiral staircase and wall of hollow bricks. The disparate structures are further unified by a new identity with symbolic heart reference, and three smart bespoke typefaces created by local branding firm Werklig.

INFORMATION

For more information on the design visit the Davidsson Tarkela website

Artek's flagship store has jumped from one historic Helsinki property to another. Closing its Eteläesplanadi grand boulevard hub in January, the global culture and lifestyle brand has reopened in an Eliel Saarinen designed property, which couldn't be more centrally located.

Dating back to 1921, the building is located just opposite the Stockmann department store on Keskuskatu, Helsinki's main pedestrian street. The move is more than just about centrality (the previous location was just a short walk further out) – it also marks a return to the company's geographical roots. Between 1954 and 1991, Artek was housed next door, in Alvar Aalto's modernist Rautatalo (or 'Iron House').

The new store's façade allows floods of light through the art nouveau arched windows and, inside, the space has been completely opened up to reveal a vast, warehouse-style display room. Artek's furniture, lighting and accessories are on show in their entirety, organised into individual living clusters over two floors, which helps to demarcate the sprawling, 700 sq m design experience. There's also plenty of space to line with marble shelves, with wares from like-minded Nordic firms Knoll, String and Vitra, to name a few.

Highlights include product launches direct from the trade fairs and Artek Helsinki 'specials' (which are only available in store), as well as a workshop, where Alvar Aalto’s acclaimed 'Stool 60' can be customised on site by clients. Here at Wallpaper*, we are particularly fond of the substantial magazine and art-book nook, which feels more like a relaxed coffee-shop than a design store.

The floorplan also includes a corner dedicated to continuing the legacy of Galerie Artek (established in the 1950s at the Rautatalo store), providing a stage for artists and makers to showcase their work, suggesting that the brand's philosophy of promoting a 'grand synthesis of all the arts' is still at the company's beating heart.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Artek website

Photography courtesy Artek Helsinki

ADDRESS

Artek
Keskuskatu 1B 00100
Helsinki

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Eero Aarnio has enjoyed a long and illustrious career in design that dates back to the 1950s. His big break came in the early 1960s when, as a freshly minted freelance designer, he came up with an idea for a ball-shaped fibreglass chair that would go on to challenge the world’s perception of what furniture could look like. The design was first put into production by Finnish furniture company Osko in 1966, who cautiously made a small run of 100 for the brand’s stand at the Cologne Furniture Fair. ‘The technical director said "if we sell even one of these, I’ll eat my hat",’ remembers Aarnio, ‘but in the first week they sold to over 30 countries.’

A hit with everyone from movie stars to presidents, the 'Ball' chair sold in its thousands across the globe, quickly becoming an internationally recognised symbol of 1960s style, not to mention the cover star of countless magazines from Business Digest to Playboy; most of which are now collaged across a wall in Aarnio’s lake-side home in Veikkola, just outside of Helsinki.

Remarkably full of energy at 83 years of age and still producing designs for companies such as Magis, Alessi, and Artek, Aarnio attributes his enduring success to ‘good sleep, good food and good exercise’.

‘In retirement you have a lot of time for work,’ he continues, ‘I can work anywhere. The computer’s in my head, the printer’s in my hand and my pencil is my mouse’. 

Busy as ever, Aarnio’s 2016 has got off to a particularly eventful start with the opening of his first retrospective at Finland’s Design Museum Helsinki. Curated by Suvi Saloniemi, chief curator at Design Museum, and designed by Ville Kokkonen and Florencia Colombo, the show occupies the museum’s first floor, mapping out Aarnio’s life in design across an open plan central gallery space and four smaller adjoining galleries, which focus on the themes of mind, timeline, production and process. 

Upon arrival, at the top of the stairwell, visitors are greeted by Aarnio’s giant plastic animals that appear to be roaming free across the gallery thanks to a set of robotic podiums that allow them to glide independently around the space. Developed especially for the show by Finnish studio GIM, the robots provide a 360 degree view of Aarnio’s designs while reflecting the designer’s love of the unconventional. ‘We wanted to give a degree of freedom to the objects,’ says Colombo. ‘Eero has never respected furniture archetypes and we wanted the show to embody his playful personality and state of mind.’

Beyond the roaming plastic animals, Aarnio’s many furniture and product designs are assembled in rows to form a bright landscape of curvaceous plastic and wooden forms. Here his 'Ball' chair takes centre stage – a reminder of where it all began over 50 years ago.

INFORMATION

'Eero Aarnio' is on view until 25 September. For more information, visit the Design Museum Helsinki website

ADDRESS

Design Museum Helsinki
Korkeavuorenkatu 23
00130 Helsinki

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