Design Finland

Fennia Prize 2007

Fennia Prize is an international design competition with a slogan "good design grows global". This year the competition is divided in product design and open categories, with grand prize worth of €20,000!

Product design category is more traditional design competition, but the open category also welcomes business and service concepts and environments.

Besides money, the finalists will get lot of publicity. Fennia Prize 2007 will be also an exhibition that will tour Finland and other countries during 2007. For new concepts, this is likely to be more worth than the prize money.

The winning products and companies from 2005 and 2003 competition are very popular in their own fields and can be seen in their our everyday lifes.

The entries close September 10, 2006, so hurry up. More information and official rules from Design Forum Finland website.

Stance - Car Design Exhibition

Stance is car and vehicle design exhibition presenting design concepts by students of Lahti Institute of Design. It introduces works of 12 Finnish industrial designers - all working on international projects for the leading car and motorbike manufacturers of the world including Jaguar, Toyota, GE, Ford, Honda, Aprilia, Pininfarina and many others.

The concept vehicles in the exhibition are presented with the eventual miniature concept model and other documentation from the design process.

This exhibition is a must for anyone dreaming of means of future transportation.

Stance - Car Design Exhibition at Design Forum Finland - till August 20, 2006

Fennofolk - a new category for fashion and design

The world knows Alvar Aalto, Eero Saarinen, Tapio Wirkkala and many other legendary names of Finnish design. The new design generation in Finland is not quite the same as these historical names.

The names behind today’s contemporary Finnish design, have breaken the harmony of colors and traditional forms with new experimental elements. The harmony in Fennofolk style means breaking the expected steady rhythm. Opposite elements are presented at the same time and they result the rough, edgy and genuine look of Fennofolk.

Fennofolk combines folkloristic elements from traditions as well as from every day life.

Fennofolk style can be found in all areas of new finnish design. In furniture, glass, wood, clothing and interior design as well as in music and art.

Ivana Helsinki is one of the leading creators of Fennofolk.

Watch out for this new style category and the rising international stars from Finland.

Oka Coat Rack by Teppo Asikainen

Oka coat rack was designed by Teppo Asikainen from Valvomo. It's special in the way that it hangs from the ceiling and can be adjusted in number of positions.

Oka received an honorary mention in FenniaPrize 2005 design competition.

Oka is produced and distributed by Inno. Picture courtesy of Inno.

L'Amour Mobile Phones by Nokia

Since Nokia is the best known Finnish brand worldwide, I think they can be considered to be suitable for this site as well.

Nokia has had number of very popular phone models during the years. Unfortunately the form hasn't been the main factor in their success.

Nokia's L'Amour collection is a bit different story. In my eyes it's the first true fashion phone collection they've had. The collection consists of three different models, 7360, 7370 and 7380. All three models are available in Europe, but North America is still waiting to get the 7360.

What makes L'Amour so special then? Technically, nothing. It's all about how they look. The design of phones with leather and etched metal makes them look something else than a techno gadget. Still, they do have all the latest technology in them.

It's also obvious that Nokia has realized that the people want to have beautiful items with the right attitude. Mobile phones are a visible part of everyone's personal image, and many don't want to be seen as techo geeks. Something that Apple has realized a long time ago and made them sky rocket with iPod.

Nokia has invested a lot of talent in marketing of L'Amour. Instead of the tech spec boasting, they've made fine material that communicates the values of L'Amour.

To check out the L'Amour collection from Nokia's website, click here.

To see some more cool fashion phone material, also check out this.

Ivana Helsinki revisited

It's been over a year since I covered Ivana Helsinki and Paola Suhonen. Since Ivana Helsinki is actually one of the most popular incoming searches for this site, so I decided to visit them again.

Pretty much everything I wrote last year still works, but Ivana Helsinki has expanded and brought out new collections for 2006. The designer Paola Suhonen still trusts on the power of print, but there are also other types of items. Paola Suhonen has recently designed also to other brands than her own, but it seems she still has time for Ivana Helsinki as well.

The current 2006 collection brings out "Tiira" print all over the collection. You can see people wearing Tiira all over Finland already, but I've personally recognized it also in other major European cities I've visited this year. To see several examples of Tiira collection on people, check their website at www.ivanahelsinki.com .

"Loghouse Lover" is another new collection. It's very hard for me to describe it. It's Paola Suhonen all right, but it's different. I personally like the collection, especially the tone of brown.

"Hemma" is a very interesting expansion. It covers purses, trays, CD covers, binders, napkins, pillows etc, featuring Ivana graphics. Something to offer an alternative to the very old Marimekko "Unikko" graphics by Maija Isola.

Ivana Helsinki is not all about women. They do have a small collection of men's clothing as well. Looks very promising, surely something to check out as well.

The new renovated Ivana Helsinki main store in Helsinki has the widest range of the current selection. From them you can also request items in their central warehouse and from the earlier collections. IvanaHelsinki does not keep producing all of the earlier collections, so they may not be available at all.

Ivana Helsinki main store is located in  Uudenmaankatu 15 in Helsinki, a walking distance from the Esplanad park.