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CI T IE S OF HE L SINK I, E SP OO, VA N TA A , K AUNI A INE N A ND L A H T I
COMMA IMAGES
OPEN HELSINKI
EMBEDDING DESIGN IN LIFE
Our Helsinki is also an open Helsinki. For us, openness equals transparency, curiosity, global responsibility and innovation. We believe that design can create happiness.
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Design is an instrument that has helped people cope with change and progress for thousands of years. Without design, not one of the greatest civilizations in the human history would have flourished. A man would never have walked on the moon. Without design, there Today, design can be simply would found everywhere be no roads, around us. In no airplanes, public services, in no fridges, no education systems, paperclips, no in transportation, in cell phones or science, in business, no cities. in arts and culture, in sports and in policymaking to begin with. Design exists even if we don’t see it.
OPEN HELSINKI — EMBEDDING DESIGN IN LIFE
That is the basis of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012. We want to be open in everything that we do. Open for suggestions, open in communication, open for conversation. Sure, we have events, a calendar filled with them, actually. World Design Capital Helsinki 2012, however, is more than just events or even projects. It is about embedding design in life. Openness.
CI T IE S OF HE L SINK I, E SP OO, VA N TA A , K AUNI A INE N A ND L A H T I
FINLAND— SMALL P O P U L A T I O N, BIG DESIGN
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Finland is a land of thousands of designers. Alvar Aalto, Aino Aalto, Eero Aarnio, Kaj Franck, Maija Isola, Harri Koskinen, and Tapio Wirkkala, just to mention a few, are all household names around the global design community. Design is simply a part of the Finnish way of life. Something we learn to appreciate when we are kids and carry along until we are old.
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Finland is also a country of design thinkers. When we see a problem, local or international, we will think it over. It all starts at school. The Finnish education model has become an international benchmark.
Helsinki, our capital, is a vibrant, multi-cultural and internationally connected metropolitan area with a strong design tradition, a rapidly changing urban structure and a shared vision to become the global leader in the international field of design. We love Helsinki. It is a fantastic place to live and even better to explore.
Design is the key driver behind the cultural, social, economic and sustainable development of Helsinki. In fact, Helsinki itself is a city driven by design.
The way Helsinki functions 365 days a year is an example of how design can improve the everyday life of hundreds of In the summertime, thousands of Helsinki, located people. In the conveniently at the wintertime, heart of The Baltic Sea, for example, takes over the waves. Helsinki is often Private boats and public packed with waterbuses take people snow. Despite to dozens of islands this, the located a stone’s throw sidewalks, the off of Helsinki’s shores. tramlines and Thanks to good city the bus routes planning, no matter are kept open. the weather, Helsinki The schools, is functioning. the stores, the bars and the theatres operate normally. People get where they are supposed to be getting.
The purpose of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012, however, is not to throw a great party for a year and then say goodbye. We want to make sure that our effect will last. We shape the city not for ourselves but for our children, grandchildren and their grandchildren.
We sincerely believe that design can make Helsinki a better place to live. Not just in 2012 or 2017 but beyond. We design for life.
EMBEDDING DESIGN IN LIFE
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World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 consists of events and projects that turn design into a tool for cultural, social and economic development. Just like design itself, World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 is literally everywhere around us. You can find it at galleries, shops or cafes in the Design District Helsinki. Or you can bump into it on your way to the grocery store.
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Design is also a feeling, a state of mind, an attitude, something that can be found in people’s hearts and minds. Our events, exhibitions, talks and spaces are open for you. And if you cannot make it there in person, please meet us online.
OPEN HELSINKI — EMBEDDING DESIGN IN LIFE
One of the main goals of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 is to draw attention on how design is embedded into ordinary life. Embedded design extends the concept of design from goods to services and systems. That means finding solutions to people’s needs through innovative design and a user-driven perspective. Usability, sustainability and desirability. That is what we are looking for.
Design can be beautiful. Beauty is important. But at the end of the day, design is more than desirable objects, wow-architecture, fancy clothes, stylish furniture or gadgets made of steel and glass. Design is about life.
THIS IS WHO WE ARE
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The theme of World Design Capital World Design Helsinki 2012 is Capital Helsinki cooperation between 2012 is Open five metropolitan area Helsinki. We cities: Helsinki, Espoo, We want to design Vantaa, Kauniainen also not only objects and Lahti. have but solutions. great support from the We want to create open Finnish government platforms that enable and the ministries as people to take part well as foundations. in designing a better, Not to mention the happier, increasingly Aalto University, the livable city. We believe University of Helsinki and in collaboration. More the Institute of Design than anything, World of Lahti, the leading Design Capital Helsinki educational institutions 2012 is a platform for in the region. various participants. Everything we Design is becoming more do is a result of and more important for cooperation. businesses worldwide as they strive to stay competitive. Our corporate partners are enhancing their design knowhow and learning to execute projects and collaborate with each other more effectively. World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 could not exist without our corporate partners.
And last but not least, there are the people. Dozens of NGOs, small teams, organizations, families, and ordinary citizens willing to work with us. Men and women and boys and girls who have sent us more than one thousand programme proposals, participated in our Idea Forums or posed as models for our photographs. The visual identity of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 is built around the idea of openness.The elements of our visual identity have been drawn by people of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds. Therefore, the identity is similar to World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 itself. It changes and evolves depending on the time and medium, and it is never 100 percent complete.
HEL SINK I Sometimes referred to as “the smallest big city in the world”, Helsinki is a place where everything good - and by everything, we mean everything - is just around the corner.
We are confident that World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 will be a fantastic chain of events, projects and ideas. Even more, we believe that all the openness and cooperation between different organizations will continue after the year 2012 and eventually result in something totally new but equally exiting. That should be our legacy.
VA N TA A Home to the Heureka Science Center and Helsinki Airport, Vantaa is our port to the rest of the world.
L AHTI Easily reachable by train, Lahti is not only famous for the Wood Architecture Park and the Sibelius Hall, but also the home of the Institute of Design, one of the most prestigious design schools in Finland.
There was We like where we are. a time when We love what we are. Helsinki was We are excited about considered as what we will become a distant place in the future. We love at the edge of Helsinki and we love the universe. our visitors. Welcome. Today, Helsinki is a known link between the East and the West. The closest destination from Europe on the way to Asia. And a halfway stop between North America and Asia.
HELSINKI METROPOLITAN AREA ONE SHARED VISION
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ESPOO Home to Nokia, Alan Wake, Angry Birds and the main campus of the Aalto University. Espoo is a bicycle ride away from Helsinki city centre.
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K AUNIAINEN Population 8,600, located 15 kilometres west of Helsinki. With its 100-year-old villas Kauniainen is a perfect day trip destination to anyone interested in traditional Finnish small town life.
OPEN HELSINKI — EMBEDDING DESIGN IN LIFE
World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 is a joint venture between the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen and Lahti. Together, these cities make up an excellent pocket-sized metropolitan region in the design district of Southern Finland.
WORL D DE SIGN C A PI TA L
The World Design Capital® (WDC) designation is a biennial city promotion project that celebrates the accomplishments of cities that have used design as a tool to reinvent themselves and improve social, cultural and economic life.
IC SID IDA
The World Design Capital is an initiative of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid), a non-profit organisation that protects and promotes the interests of the profession of industrial design.
Founded in 1957, Icsid serves as a unified voice of over 50 nations through which members can express their views and be heard on an international platform. Since its inception, Icsid has continued to develop its wide-reaching network of students and professionals devoted to the recognition, success and growth of the industrial design community. Together, professional associations, promotional societies, educational institutions, government bodies and corporations create a comprehensive and diverse system on the forefront of industrial design education and progress.
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Main corporate partners
Corporate partners GE T IN T OUCH
In cooperation with
World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 Aleksanterinkatu 16–18 P.O.BOX 2012 FI-00099 City of Helsinki Finland info@wdchelsinki2012.fi www.wdchelsinki2012.fi
© World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 Photography by Valtteri Hirvonen / Eriksson & Company (if not otherwise specified) Design by Kokoro & Moi
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