Design expertise from Helsinki to be showcased at Beijing Design Week in September

This year, Helsinki will be the Guest City of the largest design festival in Asia, Beijing Design Week. The Programme is curated by Helsinki Design Week. In fact, HDW played a major part in Helsinki becoming the Guest City in the first place.

“Helsinki Design Week has aimed to strengthen international interaction with other design weeks for years. The City of Helsinki has decided to use design as a tool in urban development. We are happy to share this news with the people of Beijing and bring experts from both cities to discuss the chosen themes,” says the founder of Helsinki Design Week, Kari Korkman.

The diverse programme and an installation implemented with JKMM Architects, Marimekko and Wood for Finland will show festival visitors what well-designed everyday life and smart solutions for learning and urban planning are like in Helsinki. Beijing Design Week is the largest design festival in Asia. It attracts over eight million visitors and almost 10,000 participating designers and organisations from over 30 countries each year. 

Helsinki’s programme as a Guest City is built on the theme of Designing Better Life. Helsinki is presented as a versatile user of design, building better everyday life and sustainable urban living by using design principles and professionals. The programme focuses in particular on sustainable and smart solutions for learning and urban development, in which design plays a major role. 

“The City of Helsinki has been using design in its development for a decade. We are happy to demonstrate these activities in various ways in Beijing. Architecture and design education and cities’ climate solutions are some of the themes about which we have much to learn together and much to give on our way towards future-proof urban life,” says Helsinki’s Chief Design Officer Hanna Harris.

Participating in Beijing Design Week also supports Helsinki’s and its partners’ international collaboration and business opportunities. 

“Helsinki’s goal is to grow and develop even further as an international design city. For Helsinki, the Guest City entity offers an opportunity to build a profile as a model city for modern design thinking that recognises the value of design widely. The goal is for the Guest City project to open up new cooperation opportunities for Helsinki-based design companies and other partners. Helsinki has a long history of working with the City of Beijing, and participating in Beijing Design Week is a natural continuation of this history,” says Mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen.

Beijing is Helsinki’s only official twin city. In 2019, the cities signed a cooperation agreement, the themes of which, including urban planning, environmental protection and innovative cooperation, are also a part of the Guest City programme.

An installation shows the building blocks of good everyday life in Helsinki

In addition to the mostly virtual content, an installation designed by JKMM Architects and titled The Recipes for Happy Helsinki Home will also be built on-site in Beijing. The impressive installation consists of seven wooden cubic spaces. Visitors can walk or peek inside them to experience them with all their senses and gain inspiration from the elements of happy life in Helsinki: Forest, Knowledge, Rest, Play, Sauna, Food and Work. In the middle of it all, there is a communal meeting place, the Square, where workshops and other events will take place during the festival. The installation’s main materials include printed textiles by Marimekko and Finnish timber panels by Wood for Finland.

 The installation is inspired by dialogue between Beijing and Helsinki cultures, and it is implemented in close cooperation with Chinese craftspeople. For example, artist Pan Jianfeng has created Chinese characters for each spatial theme in a unique style. 

Beijing Design Week is organised by Beijing Gehua Cultural Development Group and Beijing Industrial design Center. Before Helsinki, the Guest City status has been awarded to nine cities, the most recent being Mexico City in 2019. Helsinki originally received its Guest City status for Beijing Design Week 2020, but its participation was postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Helsinki Design Week has aimed to strengthen international interaction with other design weeks for years. The City of Helsinki has decided to use design as a tool in urban development. We are happy to share this news with the people of Beijing and bring experts from both cities to discuss the chosen themes,” says the founder of Helsinki Design Week, Kari Korkman.

The diverse programme and an installation implemented with JKMM Architects, Marimekko and Wood for Finland will show festival visitors what well-designed everyday life and smart solutions for learning and urban planning are like in Helsinki. Beijing Design Week is the largest design festival in Asia. It attracts over eight million visitors and almost 10,000 participating designers and organisations from over 30 countries each year. 

Helsinki’s programme as a Guest City is built on the theme of Designing Better Life. Helsinki is presented as a versatile user of design, building better everyday life and sustainable urban living by using design principles and professionals. The programme focuses in particular on sustainable and smart solutions for learning and urban development, in which design plays a major role. 

“The City of Helsinki has been using design in its development for a decade. We are happy to demonstrate these activities in various ways in Beijing. Architecture and design education and cities’ climate solutions are some of the themes about which we have much to learn together and much to give on our way towards future-proof urban life,” says Helsinki’s Chief Design Officer Hanna Harris.

Participating in Beijing Design Week also supports Helsinki’s and its partners’ international collaboration and business opportunities. 

“Helsinki’s goal is to grow and develop even further as an international design city. For Helsinki, the Guest City entity offers an opportunity to build a profile as a model city for modern design thinking that recognises the value of design widely. The goal is for the Guest City project to open up new cooperation opportunities for Helsinki-based design companies and other partners. Helsinki has a long history of working with the City of Beijing, and participating in Beijing Design Week is a natural continuation of this history,” says Mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen.

Beijing is Helsinki’s only official twin city. In 2019, the cities signed a cooperation agreement, the themes of which, including urban planning, environmental protection and innovative cooperation, are also a part of the Guest City programme.

An installation shows the building blocks of good everyday life in Helsinki

In addition to the mostly virtual content, an installation designed by JKMM Architects and titled The Recipes for Happy Helsinki Home will also be built on-site in Beijing. The impressive installation consists of seven wooden cubic spaces. Visitors can walk or peek inside them to experience them with all their senses and gain inspiration from the elements of happy life in Helsinki: Forest, Knowledge, Rest, Play, Sauna, Food and Work. In the middle of it all, there is a communal meeting place, the Square, where workshops and other events will take place during the festival. The installation’s main materials include printed textiles by Marimekko and Finnish timber panels by Wood for Finland.

 The installation is inspired by dialogue between Beijing and Helsinki cultures, and it is implemented in close cooperation with Chinese craftspeople. For example, artist Pan Jianfeng has created Chinese characters for each spatial theme in a unique style. 

Beijing Design Week is organised by Beijing Gehua Cultural Development Group and Beijing Industrial design Center. Before Helsinki, the Guest City status has been awarded to nine cities, the most recent being Mexico City in 2019. Helsinki originally received its Guest City status for Beijing Design Week 2020, but its participation was postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.