Scandinavia hosted a large-scale festival of designunder the name Helsinki Design Week. Our article - about its brightest events, incredible atmosphere of creativity and cultural identity. One of the most anticipated design events in Northern Europe, the Helsinki Design Week (HDW) is held annually in Finland, in Helsinki. Since 2005, from 4 to 14 September, this major festival unites many creative geniuses in the field of fashion, architecture and urban culture. And every year the event changes its location and occurs in various buildings around the city. But whether it is museums or markets, shops or classes of educational institutions - visiting most places is absolutely free for everyone, so the audience is very diverse: from ordinary housewives to fashionable designers. 
This year Helsinki Design Week was special,since celebrated its 10th anniversary. For young designers, this is an opportunity to express themselves and find partners, and for experts - to present their projects that will set new directions at the international level. The festival program included more than 150 events designed for both the general public and professionals. The program turned out to be even richer and more varied than we hoped to achieve.
The founder and director of HDW Kari Korkman 
If in 2013 Helsinki Design Week attendedabout 50,000 people, then in 2014 - already more than 70,000. Moreover, every resident of the city had the opportunity to take part in the discussion and even in the development of design and culture projects. What was the highlight of the festival? What were the most memorable moments? Let's go through the most interesting events of Helsinki Design Week-2014! On the very first day of the festival, a free Design Curating Now seminar was held, dedicated to Finnish design and the latest innovations in this industry. World-renowned design curators were invited to it, behind whom they have vast experience in organizing exhibitions, festivals, design weeks and all kinds of significant events. And in the evening there was a grand opening party and celebration of the tenth birthday of Helsinki Design Week, which took place in the Old Student House (Vanha Ylioppilastalo). 
The second day was remembered by many so interestingevent as Design Talks, where during the lunch break well-known practicing designers in a casual manner shared with the public short interesting stories about their work, life and sources of inspiration. As the sponsor of this event the company Audi has acted, for this reason in a banquet hall several expensive cars of this mark flaunted. 
On the weekend, September 6 and 7, as part of the festivalwas the most large-scale and long-awaited event in Scandinavia - Design Market, which from year to year became one of the favorites of the program Helsinki Design Week. The cable factory (Kaapelitehdas) was crowded with people, large and little-known brands, discounts and a wide range of goods, from plates to stylish clothes. Anyone could come here and buy what they liked. 
There were also events at HDW that took placeevery day throughout the festival. For example, one of them was dedicated to modern Finnish architecture. The exhibition was held at the Museum of Finnish Architecture, where 10 best projects, selected for their architectural merits, were presented with the help of a huge number of photographs, drawings, models. And another interesting event is the Kluuvi Design Lab, where professionals experimented with the shapes of the future in the gallery at Aleksanterinkatu. 
On September 10, the Show Room Walk, whichhelped to get an idea of the novelties in the design of furniture and interiors. Manufacturers made presentations in their own salons, so all those wishing for three days wandered around the city's districts and looked in the salons, which are a few minutes walk from each other. 
It is worth noting the exciting event OpenStudios, which opened the doors of creative studios, companies and offices for everyone to see. What does the designer's workshop look like? What does the designer wear before the collection gets to the stores? A lot of interesting things could be learned after visiting each studio, all accompanied by events and creative meetings organized by the designers themselves. 
Well, at the end of the last weekend the organizersHelsinki Design Week decided to devote the full year to children. The main venue was Abattoir, there were many exhibitions, seminars, workshops and other events for the whole family. A great idea for dating a child with the world of design and everything beautiful. 
helsinkidesignweek.com, Aino Huovio
