World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 is looking forward to getting some content

The organisers are already in a great hurry if they are to make the year impressive and outstanding

print this

By Hannu Pöppönen
     
      Time flies.
      There are now only six months to go before Helsinki’s year as the World Design Capital starts.
      The year 2012 gives us an opportunity to show the world what kind of design country Finland is and how design can improve the quality of life.
      The organisers are already beginning to be in a great hurry if they are to make the year impressive and outstanding.
      The programme will be compiled by the International Design Foundation, which is the management organization of the WDC Helsinki 2012 project.
     
The International Design Foundation led by Pekka Timonen, Chairman of the WDC 2012, has so far reported on its partners, its international publicity campaigns, and on a design pavilion to be set up between the Design Museum and the Museum of Finnish Architecture in downtown Helsinki (see earlier article).
      The structure will serve as a meeting place and a venue for various events in 2012.
      Some of next year’s events will be published in the course of the summer, but the final programme will be announced at the 2011 World Design Congress in Taipei in Taiwan in October.
     
The theme of Helsinki’s WDC year is Open Helsinki.
      Last October, the International Design Foundation invited proposals for programme items for 2012. A total of 1,200 proposals were received by the closing date of February 11th.
      ”We expected some 500 to 600 applications, and going through the pile took longer than we anticipated”, Timonen notes.
      A total of some 150 projects will be chosen to be included in the official World Design Capital year programme.
      So far the number of approved proposals is around 80, Timonen adds.
      In addition to Helsinki, WDC events will also be organised in the four other participating cities: Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen, and Lahti.
      The delay in handling the project applications has made it more difficult for designers to acquire sponsors and to proceed with their ideas.
      The International Design Foundation itself will not produce anything, with the exception of the events required by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), which owns the World Design Capital trademark.
     
One of the proposed projects
is a temporary budget hotel, made for example of containers, that would be placed opposite the Katajanokka Terminal.
      The budget hotel would offer accommodation for the design-year guests.
      Architect Tarja Nurmi says that she proposed such a container hotel already last spring, when the Design Foundation arranged an open doors day to spark ideas.
      However, the decision to include the budget hotel project in the design year programme was made only last week.
      Prior to the decision, Nurmi and her partner Linja Architects were not able to seek funding for the project.
     
”It is true that they will have to work hard in order to put everything together in time”, commented Leena Puttaa-Sollo on the activities of the Design Foundation.
      Puttaa-Sollo is the Brand & Communication Manager at the furniture manufacturer Martela, one of the corporate partners of the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012.
      In Puttaa-Sollo’s view, October is too late for the announcement of the final programme.
      ”The programme should be known in good time so that it could be taken into account when compiling next year’s budget”, she argues.
     
The International Design Foundation is led by the board and a committee consisting of 45 opinion leaders and specialists from various sectors of society.
      The chairman of the committee is the former Nokia President and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.
      The committee does not review the project proposals, as it is tasked with the general definition of policy for next year.
      The committee also includes designer Harri Koskinen.
      He himself has proposed two projects for the World Design Capital year programme, but he has not received any confirmation as yet whether they will be accepted or not.
      However, Koskinen is confident that Helsinki will come through the year with flying colours.
     
Pekka Timonen admits that there is starting to be a great hurry to get things into shape.
      ”But today I am considerably more confident than a month ago. Most of the agreements have been sent and even the latest responses will be submitted before the summer holidays in order that nothing remains unclear to anybody”, Timonen reports.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 6.6.2011

More on this subject:
 COMMENTARY: World Design Capital year has to be brought to street level

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Wanted: New ideas for Design Capital 2012 (30.3.2010)
  The 2012 World Design Capital has some cleaning up to be done (30.3.2010)
  Temporary wooden pavilion to become Helsinki´s common living room during World Design Capital year of 2012 (24.5.2011)
  More than 1,000 suggestions submitted for Helsinki World Design Capital year (15.2.2011)
  Former Nokia CEO Kallasvuo to lead World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 Committee (14.1.2011)

See also:
  Helsinki wins title of World Design Capital 2012 (26.11.2009)

Links:
  Linja Architects
  World Design Capital Helsinki 2012
  International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID)
  Helsinki Design Week 2011

HANNU PÖPPÖNEN / Helsingin Sanomat
hannu.popponen@hs.fi