Finnish Design in New York Watch
19.6.2012 10.48
In May, the 10-months long New Finnish Design CITY project looking into urban life and its design aspects was launched in New York. Another venue was ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) during the New York Design Week.
New Finnish Design CITY brings both
designers and design thinkers to New York City. The aim is to add to the
dialogue between Finns and Americans working in and with design in general.
Wanted Design Fair
The
New Finnish Design CITY lounge is located at the Wanted Design fair, and in
October the audience will have the possibility to learn about Finnish school
design and educational systems at the Best School in the World exhibition
presented at the Center for Architecture in New York. The series of events also
highlights the themes of the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012: merging
functional design into urban space and lifestyle with product and serve design,
urban planning and architecture…even street culture.
At
the Wanted Design fair during the New York design week, the New Finnish Design
CITY lounge displayed a 3-day design experience featuring seven Finnish design
companies: One Nordic Furniture Company, Vallila, Inno, Secto Design, Urban
Dream Management, VividWorks, and Samu Viitanen.
New
Finnish Design CITY is organized by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York
and the Consulate General of Finland in New York. The New Finnish Design CITY
lounge at Wanted Design is produced in collaboration with Design Forum Finland.
For more information: e-mail info@design-city.net or call 212.674.5570 (US).
International Contemporary Furniture Fair
Another
venue of New York Design Week highlighting Finnish Design was ICFF. In the U.S., I think that this
fair is the best for trend direction and a barometer of European design
direction for design professionals to visit, if they don’t have the opportunity
to travel the Euro trade show circuit.
Three
Finnish design booths were shown. The first is shown here with the University
of Lapland: Runko – Arctic Design from Finnish Lapland. University of Lapland
is one of the six participants at ICFF’s juried exhibition of student work from
the world’s leading schools.
The
Faculty of Art and Design students’ work addresses the challenges posed by the
arctic climate. Materials for the products have been selected based on their
recyclability or local availability. The students have gotten their inspiration
from traditional Finnish design, the unique nature of Lapland, the northern
lights, as well as from the darkness of the winter. Their booth was created in
collaboration with World Design Capital 2012 Helsinki–Rovaniemi project. www.ulapland.fi
Season
One is a one-year-old company founded by four product design students: Iida
Halonen, Linda Huunonen, Niko Räsänen, and Ida Jelena Utriainen from Turku
University of Applied Sciences. They aim for a broad product catalogue, ranging
from furniture to small everyday objects. The group develops ideas that are
interesting and fun, but also useful, practical and realistic. For ICFF, they
made products from small objects to furniture that accommodate the mobile and
free lifestyle and that could be flown from Finland to New York in suitcases. www.seasonone.fi
Artek
showcases the Kiki collection by llmari Tapiovaara, the Lento collection by
Harri Koskinen, and the TW002 pendant lamp by Tapio Wirkkala. www.artek.fi
Final
words
Next quarter, I will be previewing 2014 trends of the future. Stay tuned for more
insights with the ColorVoyant® Watch.
Also remember to read the blog post on Milan Design Week Watch about Color and Trends!
Palaa otsikoihin
