Bright young things: all the highlights from Helsinki Design Week 2015

Habitare hosted a tribute to post-war Finnish designer Tapio Wirkklaa, celebrating the great man’s birthday. They showed a small selection of the 300 works artistic works the foundation have gathered together for a larger exhibition in Lapland this October

A selection of Wirkklaa’s ceramic works, which porcelain brand Rosenthal are putting back into production for the birthday celebration

In ’Block’, the section of the fair for new talent, Aalto University’s Industrial Design programme showcased re-invented coffee machines. The young designers experimented with materials to produce architecture-inspired models. Pictured left: ’The Untitled Coffee Maker’ by Mikko Latomäki; right: ’8 AM’ by Lauri Kakel

‘Phyto Pure’ by Yuchao Chien has the appearance of a fan or air purifier, its crafted form testing the boundaries of coffee-making by existing as a horizontal model

Aija Hannula’s ‘Coffee Cooker’ reconceived coffee making as a scientific experiment

Elina Ulvio’s display included a ‘Gravity’ light sculpture and her galactic wall lights, entitled ‘Välke’

Ulvio is currently studying for a master’s degree in Product Design at Aalto University and at Politecnico di Milano. Pictured: ‘P/P’ reversible mirror and table and ’3U15’ three-legged chair

From the ’Eco Design’ section of the fair, Meri-Tuuli Porras’ ‘Kaarre’ mirror was simplistic yet shapely

Kaija Aalto’s ‘Malva’ shelf is made of recyclable UPM Grada plywood. Its curvaceous form was carefully bent and it can also be wall-mounted

A new lighting project by Airam studio at Aalto University – based around organic light emitting diodes (OLED) – featured ‘Swinger’ by Heli Juuti (pictured). Boasting a lightweight form, its mirror-like shape can be removed from the solid circular stand

Also included were these ‘Viiva’ lights by Nathalia Mussi Weidlich. The delicately thin wire structure carefully allows the OLED light to be hidden

Artek provided the refreshments at Habitare in this Japanese inspired tearoom designed by Hanna-Kaarina Heikkilä and Anni Pitkäjärvi. Allowing a little solace from the surrounding bustle, it featured pieces from the brand’s newest ’Kaari’ collection, as well as iconic lights

On display at Helsinki’s Esplanadi Park were two wooden installations by architect Anissi Lassila. Entitled Re-creation. The Resilience of Architecture, the two wooden huts are culturally influenced, one created in Finland and the other in China. Both structures manipulate the space in a different manner. Pictured: the Chinese hut, created from metal bent bamboo to form this spiral view when viewed from the inside

The Finnish hut is formed from spruce logs; like the Chinese model, it gradually curves to a peak

Peering up inside the Finnish hut

From the ’Proto Shop’ exhibition in the ’Block’, these ’Keskuspuisto’ ceramics were displayed by Henri Judin, a funiture design student at Aalto University. The intricate grooves of the ceramics mean that the cups can be comfortably held when holding hot liquids

Marianne Huotari created these standing ceramic ’Poiju’ butter knives

Another highlight of the ’Block’ section of the fair was the ’Truth’ display of 12 Finnish ceramic and glass artists. Pictured: ‘Pikku Marie’ by Marjukka Takala – a bain-marie consisting of copper, silver and ceramic components

Habitare’s 2015 Design Competition finalists were also on show; the theme for this year’s exhibition was ’Burr’. Included were these ’Pinot’ chairs by Sanelma Hihnala, which can be playfully rearranged by sliding one on top of each other to alter their colours

Also part of the competition was Heidi Huovinen’s ’Pahkat’. Made from mosquito net, birch plywood and steel, the Aalto University master’s student has crafted a spiral structure of layers that can be expanded into a cove and drawn back to a singular form

On show at Iittala’s harbour-side shop, these new mouth-blown wall ornaments by different artists were inspired by florals, underwater life and solar systems