Art & culture

This little cute shop sells all the things cool from a few Finnish designers. Antti Asplund, one of the most talented Finnish clothing designers sells his clothes in here. His clothes are unique and the man himself is as well: he adores hats, wigs and pirates.

You can find seriously stunning and bohemian necklaces and earring designed by Youth vs. Future in the shop. The Youth vs. Future brand was founded in Helsinki in 2006 by jewellery designers Laura Vartio and Janni Hyvärinen.

The story behind the pink feather-jewellery: A sudden tragedy took place in Helsinki Zoo Korkeasaari. All 16 flamingos were found dead after a fox found his way to their haw and executed the birds. The designers found this story meaningful in many ways, and invented the pink feathers and have written a short story in honor of the flamingos.

Personally I love the shop because it is small, cosy and luxurious at the same time. I have bought few too many feathers as it is…

Design Forum Shop is an excellent combination of shopping, gallery and café! You will find different kinds of pieces of Finnish design: jewellery, bags, clothes and mouse pads. They sell products by 200 designers and manufacturers, so they change what they sell very often.

You can find traditional Finnish things in a new format: like a make up bag made from the canvas with which they make traditional hats in Lappland. Or you can buy a lamp that looks like a bird’s home. The shop offers an opportunity for young designers to display their skills and for customers to buy something they won’t find anywhere else.

The shop is a huge display of all the weird and interesting design there is. You don’t even feel like you are in a shop. There is a café in the shop where you can relax, enjoy your coffee and read magazines (about design of course!).

One of the best outdoor-things to do in Helsinki is to go to one or many of the islands in front of the city. Seurasaari is an open air museum: there are 78 old wooden buildings from all over Finland. The cottages, farmsteads and manors are from the past four centuries. You can get a guided tour if you want to or just walk slowly on your own through the green area. The houses are open only in summertime, but the island is worth of exploring in winter as well.

There are also beaches and one of them is for the nudists. You can swim there in wintertime as well (Mind you the water is freezing and you have to jump into the hole on ice! There is no sauna or shower before or after the swim!) If you are hungry or thirsty there is a restaurant, café and kiosk. Oh and don’t forget the teeny tiny ones: Bring some nuts to feed the tame squirrels!!

How to get there? Seurasaari is only 5 km from the city central. You can take a bus from Lasipalatsi or a boat from the Market Square.

If you happen to be in Helsinki Saturday and Sunday 26-27th of May 2012 you are very very lucky! During that weekend you don’t need to think about what to do in Helsinki since the World Village Festival (Maailma Kylässä Festivaali 2012) takes place in the very heart of Helsinki city center.

The World Village Festival takes place in a large area from the Railway Square all the way to Kaisaniemi Park and in the evenings some clubs are covered with tents and stages – full of free festival events!

Great bands and well known artists from different areas of performing arts – from all over the world come together!

This festival has been held in Helsinki since from 1995 and the main organiser of World Village Festival is the Service Centre for Development Cooperation – KEPA. It is the umbrella organisation for nearly 300 development organisations or other NGOs working on issues concerning development and globalisation. KEPA itself is a politically and ideologically non-aligned organisation.

There are so many great artist performing at this festival – but our family will definitely go to see Jukka Poika & Sound Explosion Band since they are THE name and pioneer of Finnish reggae. In order to choose what you want to see at the festival - please have a look at the extensive festival program here. You may also get familar with the sterling stars and their music via World Village Festival Spotify list.

Hope to see you there!

Simple things in life are the best. The Artotheque at Rikhardinkatu Library is one of them. I love galleries and art but sometimes I just do not like the atmosphere in some galleries. Too fancy for my taste.

Well The Artotheque at Rikhardinkatu Library is not actually a gallery – its art part of your everyday life! Its more like real space for “art surfing”. At the same time it’s an extremely pleasant place for a rainy day or to get a good overall picture of today’s Finnish artist and art at one place.

The idea of this place is that the works may be rented by paying a monthly fee 20-200€ determined by the price of the work. Once the full price has been paid, ownership of the work transfers to the holder. Alternatively art works may be purchased directly at the Artotheque.

Customers can be private persons, corporations or organisations or even tourists. Of course not many tourist will rent art since the logistic prices when sending back the art is just too high. But this is a excellent place to find your own piece of art on moderate price!

Go and uncover your very own piece of Finnish art!