Helsinki Design Week, the largest multidisciplinary design festival in the Nordic countries, is once again taking over the city, the web and the Design Museum Helsinki. At Helsinki Design Week we open a new gallery exhibition What if? Alternative futures and the current main exhibition Design for Every Body will be open until the end of the event week.
The annual theme of the festival is “We are open”, and the Design Museum will take up the theme with various events and discussions. “Staying open and transparent is a prerequisite for critical thinking. Openness is also essential in any development, and integral in the design process. Staying curious and receptive is a choice. Openness also acknowledges its own incompleteness: the design industry is full of contradictions, has unsustainable practices and entails much room for improvement in terms of equality and diversity. ” says Anni Korkman, program director of the Helsinki Design Week festival.
You can get to know the Design Museum’s festival program on this page. Welcome to Helsinki Design Week!
Events at the Design Museum 1–11 September 2022
Thursday 1 September
Designer talk: Iiris Kamari & Joonas Kyöstilä
In the Design for Every Body exhibition at 16-17
in Finnish / participation with a museum ticket
Kuva 1: Diana Luganski Kuva 2: Ari Elefterin and Zoe Elefterin
In the Designer Talk Iiris Kamari and Joonas Kyöstilä have a discussion at the Design for Every Body exhibition, where the works of both designers are on display.
Iiris Kamari is a designer whose collection Observer / Observed explores gender diversity, as well as the possibilities of clothing to express individual and changing gender identities.
Joonas Kyöstilä is an industrial designer and former chief designer of FFORA. FFORA aims to design and manufacture accessories for wheelchairs that are both practical and beautiful.
Friday 2 September
Alusta: Care, archtitecture & Materiality
At 17:00 in the Alusta pavilion
in English / free entry
What would happen if we were to cease treating construction materials as something separate from us that is there for us to utilize and discard as we wish? How could we care more for our buildings and materials in them and how could they care for us in exchange? What kind of architecture binds us to our material world?
Discussion on the role of materials in architecture & introduction to pavilion materials, clay and biochar at Alusta Pavilion, located between the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Design Museum. The location is outdoors. The event is in English, free and with no pre-registration. Speakers: Matti Kuittinen, Architect, Adjunct Professor, Resource-efficient construction and environmental impacts, Aalto University & Elina Koivisto, Architect, University Teacher in Building Technology, Aalto University
Saturday 3 September
Alusta: Architecture & Empathy
At 15:00 in the Alusta pavilion
in English / free entry
Kuva: Milja Nieminen
Minimizing the negative impacts of construction is not enough – how can architecture contribute to the wellbeing of the community and the environment? How does design change when it is based on empathy? Speakers: Sofie Pelsmakers, Associate Professor Sustainable Architecture and Housing Design, Tampere University & Maiju Suomi, Architect & Doctoral Researcher, Aalto University
Introduction to Alusta pavilion & Talk followed by discussion. The event is in English and situated in Alusta Pavilion, located between the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Design Museum. The location is outdoors. The event is free and there is no pre-registration.
Tuesday 6.9.
Designer Talk: Tuuli Mattelmäki
In the Design for Every Body exhibition at 4 pm-4:30 pm
in Finnish / participation with a museum ticket
Tuuli Mattelmäki, kuvaaja Jaakko Kahilaniemi
Tuuli Mattelmäki gives a Designer Talk in the Design for Every Body exhibition space.
Tuuli Mattelmäki, Doctor of Arts and professor of design at Aalto University, has done pioneering research on design probes. In the Väinö project implemented at the beginning of the 2000s, the goal of Mattelmäki’s research was to examine how probes could be used to gain an understanding of the everyday life of the elderly, and thus design better environments, aids and services for them. The Väinö project is on display in the Identity room of the Design for Every Body exhibition.
Mattelmäki is interested in the creative and experimental working methods of design and applying them as drivers of change. Mattelmäki has published on the themes of empathic design, co-design and service design. Currently, Mattelmäki leads a three-year EU project called Creative Practices for Transformational Futures, which makes visible the role of creative practices in promoting eco-social sustainability.
Guided tours to the Design for Every Body exhibition
At 5 pm in Finnish. The tour starts from the lower lobby, and the tour is included in the price of the museum ticket.
Wednesday 7 September
Alusta: Making in the more than huoman world
At 17:00 in the Alusta pavilion
in English / free entry
Kuva: Milja Nieminen
How does moving beyond the anthropocentric attitude change a designer’s perspective? Who is the author when natural processes, plants and non-human animals take part in shaping the outcome? What is the role of the material in the making?
Speakers: Maarit Mäkelä, Associate Professor, Practice Led Design Research, Aalto University & Maiju Suomi, Architect & Doctoral Researcher, Aalto University & Aarni Tujula, Bachelor of Arts, Aalto University.
Introduction to Alusta pavilion & Talk followed by discussion. The event is in English and situated in Alusta Pavilion, located between the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Design Museum. The location is outdoors. The event is free and there is no pre-registration.
Online tour to the Design for Every Body exhibition
5 pm in Swedish. Live on Designmuseo’s Facebook page.
Online tour: A&DO Lab in Rovaniemi, Lapland
At 15-15:30 on the Design Museum’s Facebook page
Kuva: Mikko Vares
Hop on a FB Live tour with A&DO Lab in Rovaniemi! The online tour introduces the traveling A&DO Labra exhibition, which will visit Rovaniemi, in the yard of Kulttuuritalo Korundi from 22 August to 18 September 2022. The tour, which is open to everyone, can be broadcast live on Facebook, either alone or with a group. You can participate from both your computer’s web browser and your mobile device. The tour is in Finnish.
A&DO – Learning Centre for Architecture and Design is a joint project co-managed by the Museum of Finnish Architecture and Design Museum Helsinki.
Thursday 8 September
NODUS Talks Cooler Planet & HDW Edition
At 16:15-17:45 at the Design Museum
in English / free entry / advance registration
NODUS Talks Cooler Planet & HDW Edition takes place at the Design Museum Helsinki. Speakers:
Michael Lettenmeier is a post-doctoral researcher at the NODUS Sustainable Design Research Group, Department of Design, Aalto University and the CEO of D-mat ltd. Michael has developed the 1.5-Degree Lifetyles and the 8-Tonnes Material Footprint concepts for sustainable lifestyles. In this talk, Michael will show what the 1.5-degree climate target from the Paris Agreement means from a lifestyles’ perspective, how our everyday life can contribute to the target, and what this means from the perspective of different actors in society.
Reet Aus is a PhD-qualified Estonian fashion designer and environmental activist who founded Reet Aus Collection® and The Upshirt®. She is a pioneer in the field of industrial upcycling for fashion, and has developed the Upmade® certification, in order to pass on her knowledge to brands and factories. Reet is going to talk about the Upmade®, radically not-wasteful new way of production model based on a scientific core methodology. Register to NODUS Talks here.
Friday 9 September
Lunch Talk: What if? Alternative futures
At 1 pm, in Finnish / Zoom
The Zoom link will be sent to those who have registered. Sign up here.
The Design Museum’s Lunch Talk introduces the themes of the exhibition What if? Alternative Futures on the opening day. The winning exhibition of the Design Club Open Call will open at the Design Museum’s Gallery at Helsinki Design Week on 9 September 2022.
In the discussion, we will hear about the co-design process that preceded the exhibition, the concretization of different futures, and discuss why thinking about the future is important in the first place. The participants to the discussion are Mikko Dufva, Sitra’s leading expert on the future, Sara Martinsen, the producer of the exhibition, and video artist Irene Suosalo. The discussion will take place on the Zoom platform and can also be followed live on the Design Museum’s Facebook event.
New AD-Museum: Open Design Professions
9 am-11am / Tiedekulma, Yliopistonkatu 4
How can a new museum for architecture and design in Helsinki help push for a more inclusive, diverse, and open profession? What is the role of an architecture and design museum in bringing change to the design field and how is the design field uniquely positioned to bring change to the societies we live in?
We explore these and other questions with cross-disciplinary design professionals who are each fighting for a broader definition of the fields they work in and pushing the role of architecture and design in approaching the most complex issues of our time. The discussion is moderated by David van der Leer, the founder of DVDL – an agency of innovators and strategists working at the intersection of cultural analysis and human behavior. Register for the event.
Saturday 10 September
Kuva: Sami Repo
Open handicraft workshop by Suomen Käsityön Ystävät
12-4 pm in the Design Museum’s auditorium
Participation with a museum ticket
Welcome to the workshop organized by Suomen Käsityön Ystävät to practice making needle gloves together with artist-designer Sanna Vatanen. Needle mittens are part of Sanna Vatanen’s exhibition and book project “Lankahine – Kehrätty Karjala”, which aims to find new ways to use old craft techniques in today’s everyday life and in everyday objects, taking into account the ecology and recycling of materials. “The idea of needle gloves made of thin coarse threads came about when I was thinking why always sew the thick version of gloves when we no longer ride sleds to work and in the midst of climate change we can get by with lighter gloves?”
Guided tours to the Design for Every Body exhibition
At 2 pm in Finnish and at 3 pm in Swedish. The tour starts from the lower lobby, and the tour is included in the price of the museum ticket.
1.-11.9.
Children’s Windows
1–11 September
Aleksanterinkatu 13, 1st floor
Free entry
Everyone is welcome to the Children’s CITY OF THE FUTURE workshop!
PROGRAMME
Saturday 3 September at 10–16
On Saturday 3 September, the installation will be built with young people. Will feature designer Hanna Kaarina Heikkilä and graphic designer and illustrator Sanni Wessman. You can follow the workshop behind the window between 10 and 16 hours. Pre-registration required. Sign up here.
Sunday 4 September at 10–16
On Sunday 4 September at 10–16, the premises will host an open workshop for all children. This is a non-stop workshop so that you can hop in any time you like! The workshop is limited to 40 participants at a time, and kids must have an adult with them to participate. Each participant’s workshop round will take about 20 minutes. The instructors speak Finnish, Swedish and/or English. Participation is free of charge and does not require any previous skills.
Workshop results displayed in the window 1–11 September 2022
1–11 September 2022 The installation built with children and young people can be seen in the window.
Photo: Milja Nieminen
