Finland and design: a success story

In Germany, design often has a reputation for being an abstract art form, despite the fact that we encounter it every day. The iPhone is just one example of how sophisticated design can become part of our everyday lives and the way we regularly communicate. In Helsinki, and maybe even in all of Finland, people are aware of how important design is to everyday life. Interestingly enough, the history of design in Finland doesn’t even go back very far – only about 100 years – and it was partially influenced by German styles such as Bauhaus. Today, Finland is a design powerhouse. Finnish designers are renowned worldwide; products from design labels like Iittala, Marimekko and Arabia are popular internationally. The Finnish have even made their mark on architecture outside of Scandinavia. The famous Aalto Theatre in Essen, Germany, for example, is the work of Finnish designer and architect Alvar Aalto, who is also known for his Aalto Vase.

This year, as Helsinki celebrates being nominated World Design Capital 2012, designers and creative people from all over the world are heading to Helsinki in search of inspiration. We here at Textklinik have also found a number of approaches in Helsinki that we can use as an inspiration for our everyday work – because working with text is a creative communication process. What a Finnish designer expresses in a piece of furniture, we put into words.