Our handling collection
Design and architecture are special art forms because of the intimate role they play in our daily lives. Design exhibits are usually sealed away in display cases – also in our museum – but this exhibition is an exception. Here you are welcome to touch and test how the objects feel and function.
All the objects on display are from our museum’s collections. Our handling collection was designed to fill a perceived gap: to appreciate good design, visitors should have a chance to engage all their senses.
We are all experts on good design when it comes to our daily environment. What are your thoughts on these objects? How do they feel and sit in your hand? Do they bring back memories for you? How would you use them? Share your thoughts with a companion!
Europe’s largest porcelain factory
The Arabia Ceramic Factory was named after Helsinki’s Arabia district, where it was founded in 1874. The nine-storey extension designed by Alma and Erik Lindroos was completed in 1947.
Arabia was a formidable enterprise in its day. Despite the hardships of the Winter and Continuation Wars, it continued investing in expansion and eventually became Europe’s largest porcelain factory. In the 1940s, the factory had over 2,000 employees, including the famed designer Kaj Franck. The Arabia Art Department also enlisted the services of many noted ceramic artists such as Rut Bryk and Kyllikki Salmenhaara. The Arabia Museum was founded in 1948 on the top floor of the new annex, which is where this scale model was originally on display.
This impressive scale model presents the factory compound and its environs in 1948.The model provides a chronicle of the factory’s construction stages. Its north side is flanked by a vast wood store, which was vital in the industrial production of porcelain. To the south unfold the grounds of Bokvillan Villa. The factory was closed in 2016.
One stone’s story
The former Nordic Joint Stock Bank (1904) was built in the heart of Helsinki during the height of the ornate Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) period. Its elegantly understated exterior augured a stylistic shift in Finnish turn-of-the-century architecture.
The bank was designed by Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen. Their design is an ingenious adaptation of an existing 19th century building that already occupied the site. Despite its stylistic merits, the bank was demolished only 30 years after its completion to make way for the new head office of the Union Bank of Finland. Not a single stone was reused in the new headquarters, but some of the façade fragments were salvaged. After decades of oblivion, they ended up in our museum’s possession in 2007. Learn about the story of one salvaged stone and let us know what you think.
