Finland goes Milan Design Week 2016 | Wild Weird Wonderful & more

Making plans to visit Helsinki designweek and Habitare after the Summer, I thought it was a good moment to check out some of the Finnish designers and brands showing their work during Milan designweek. On the first night I visited the opening of Beacon’s Wild, Weird and Wonderful exhibition in Brera. Later on in the week I visited a few more collaborations like the one of Artek and Marimekko and Issey Miyake with Iittala at Corso Como. Today a small selection of the different exhibitions, more pictures at my Milan Designweek Pinterest Album.

No Sauna|Burning Stereotypes

In Lambrate I found the exhibition of a group of nine graduating furniture designers from Lahti, Finland. The exhibition takes sauna as a metaphor for the

stereotypical perception of Finnish design and cultural image.Each of the designers picked a Fin

nish person and took their character as an inspiration source for their designs. The objects are not designed for the person, but to remind of something in them and the meaningful connection between them and the designer. The aim is to investigate conventions and to expose prospects that can’t be found in travel guides or postcards, materialized in design objects. More info on the different designers and objects at No Sauna.

Marimekko Home
For Milan designweek Marimekko created the ‘Marimekko home’ in a real apartment in via Palermo, Brera where in different rooms the new collection was presented in a styled home setting with lots of plants and black and white photography. Artek supported Marimekko in the creation of the Marimekko Home by providing the furniture of the home.

Finnish design house Marimekko is renowned for its original prints and colours and at the apartment a sneak peek of the new bags and accessories as well as home décor items ranging from textiles to tableware could be admired. The first pieces of the collection will arrive in stores in June.

Wild Weird Wonderful by Beacon

The Wild, weird, wonderful exhibition showcased contemporary designers from Finland and consisted of furniture, lighting and interior objects and jewellery – and ranging from one-off pieces to products developed for prominent brands, wrapped in an inspiring exhibition architecture created by design duo Aalto+Aalto who I previously met in Iceland at the Spark Design Space

Beacon is a creative network of designers from Helsinki and invites its members to work on collaborations, exhibitions and events, and to share their work processes through the Beacon Helsinki website to give an insight and increase the awareness of their creative work. At the opening night in Milan we also got to taste some really nice Finnish finger food, delicious asparagus with a Hummus like dip with Finnish herbes and drinks.

ittala X Issey Miyake at Corso Como
I can’t think of a better location to see the Ittala X Issey Miyake collection with my own eys then at the beautiful Corso Como where on the first floor the collection was presented at the small exhibition room. A unique collection of high quality ceramics, glass and home textiles of timeless design from two sides of the world, Finland and Japan. Get inspired by the video below and find more info and pictures at the ittala website.

Beacon is an initiator and a network of designers from Helsinki. Beacon invites its members

to work on collaborations, exhibitions and events, and to share their work processes through

beaconhelsinki.com website to give an insight and

increase the awareness of their creative work.

Wild, weird, wonderful exhibition presented some of the most interesting contemporary

designers from Finland. The exhibition consisted of furniture,

lighting objects, interior objects and jewellery – and ranging from one-off pieces to products

developed for prominent brands, wrapped in an inspiring exhibition architecture created by

design duo Aalto+Aalto