The stories wood can tell

Many designers in Finland have rediscovered wood. Wood is a natural and renewable material, which is also part of the Finnish tradition. For generations, it has been used to make houses and furniture. In 2012, when Helsinki is the World Design Capital, wood is even more in focus. The WDC pavilion is made entirely of wood, and tells the story of a forest. You’re outside although you’re inside – an effect that was very important to architect Pyry-Pekka Kantonen. Wood is being used more as a material at Aalto University as well. Student Johanna Öst Häggblom has designed a table anybody can put together that doesn’t need screws or adhesive. She sought inspiration in traditional furniture from her home town. All Finnish designers enthuse about the way wood feels, the way it smells, its naturalness. They prefer to leave it as natural as they can, and try to get the most out of it without turning it into an artificial object. It’s a little bit like the way we proof texts here at Textklinik. We also try to leave texts in their natural state as far as possible, and change them only as much as is necessary to turn them into the best products they can be.