Years 1979–1993 - Design Forum Finland

Finland Designs and Design Forum is established 1979–1993

The early years of the Society 1875–1900
Exhibition activities begin 1932–1939
The birth of Finnish Design 1951–1959
Design takes a stand 1963–1975
Finland Designs and Design Forum is established 1979–1993
Classics and new trends 1993–2000
The turn of the millennium 2001–2006
Internationalisation initiatives 2007–2010
Years of major projects 2010–2015
Strategy changes 2015–

1979–1998

The Finnish Society of Crafts and Design held the first Suomi muotoilee (“Finland designs”) exhibition around the turn of the year in 1979 and 1980 in the spaces of the Museum of Applied Arts.

The exhibition was a large joint exhibition of the design industry and it continued the tradition of the shared annual exhibitions of the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design and the Applied Art Association in Finland ORNAMO, which had come to an end in 1960. Now there was again a market for an extensive display of domestic design.

The Suomi muotoilee (“Finland Designs”) exhibition was a way to give as comprehensive a picture as possible of the contemporary state of design. From handicrafts to industrial design, the whole design field was represented. The exhibition products were selected by a panel founded by the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design in 1979, which worked together with Ornamo. The architecture of the Suomi muotoilee 1 exhibition was designed by industrial designers Barbro Kulvik and Antti Siltavuori, and the exhibition took over all the exhibition floors of the Museum of Applied Arts opened in June.

The exhibition was met with acclaim from both the press and the public. The newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet described the exhibition as surprising, refreshing, high-quality and one that gave new hope. In the beginning, the Suomi muotoilee exhibitions were held annually, but then they were held every other year, ten times in total.

The last exhibition, Suomi muotoilee 10, was held after a five-year break in 1998 at Design Forum Finland. Several of the exhibitions also toured Finland and, as slightly altered versions, abroad.

Photo: Finland Designs 1 exhibition 1979–1980, photo Johnny Korkman / Design Museum

1979

In August-September 1979, the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design, the Academy of Fine Arts, the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Helsinki Festival held an exhibition that showcased Finnish Functionalism.

The exhibition was held in the recently renovated Kunsthalle Helsinki and it was a part of the Helsinki Festival programme. Kirmo Mikkola acted as the exhibition architect and Timo Keinänen was responsible for the collecting of the applied arts artefacts and the research of the section.

The exhibition illuminated Modernism, how the Functionalism phenomenon had arrived in Finland in the 1920s and 1930s, and how Functionalism had given people faith in the future. The different manifestations of Functionalism were presented in the sectors of fine arts, applied arts, architecture, literature, film, theatre and music.

In the following years, the Funkis exhibition toured the Nordic countries and East Germany. The opening ceremony of the exhibition, held in 1985 in the Ausstellungszentrum am Fernsehturm (the TV tower) of East Berlin, was grand, and the exhibition attracted as many as 24,000 visitors.

1987

Design Forum was founded in 1987 to promote industrial design. Design Forum was a joint project of the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, industry companies and Ornamo Art and Design Finland.

For years, Finnish industry had demanded that industrial products and design be more strongly brought to the forefront and that industrial products should have a permanent exhibition space in Greater Helsinki. The role models of Design Forum were the design forums operating in several other countries, such as Design Council in London and the corresponding institutes in Denmark, Sweden and Japan.

Design Forum’s duty was to be an information centre serving industry, business life, designers, media and the public. Its forms of activity were exhibitions, launch parties of new products, communications, and creating the so-called design registry.

Design Forum operated in Vientitalo, at Etelä-Esplanadi 8. In 1990, Design Forum and the company service unit of the Ministry of Trade and Industry started the province-specific design representative activity, whose aim was to help SMEs utilise design in their products and business.

1991

The new rules of the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design came into effect in 1991. According to them, the society maintained Design Forum Finland, the promotion centre of Finnish design.

The office spaces and operations of the society’s office and the former Design Forum merged. The new premises were located at Fabianinkatu 10. For the first time in its history, the society now had its own exhibition space in Helsinki. A bigger exhibition space, the Hall, was meant for showcasing industrial design and more extensive temporary exhibitions. The Gallery was suitable for handicraft exhibitions, among others. The new spaces also housed office and storage spaces and also a small shop of Finnish design. Interior designer Simo Heikkilä was responsible for designing the facilities.

The opening ceremony of the new spaces was held on 10 December 1991. In 1881, 110 years earlier, in the house located in the same spot on Fabianinkatu, the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design and the Friends of Finnish Handicraft had organised the first Finnish applied arts exhibition.

Photo: The opening festival of Design Forum on 10 December 1991. On the left Undersecretary Aarne Karhilo, on the right Ms. Tellervo Koivisto, photo Johnny Korkman

1992

The Maamme (“Our Land”) exhibition was held in honour of the 75th anniversary of Finnish independence. It was on display at Design Forum’s exhibition space on Fabianinkatu from 9 January to 1 February 1992.

Thirty craftspersons and designers from different fields were invited to the exhibition and given the opportunity to freely interpret Finland and Finnishness in their works. The exhibition as a whole was diverse and open-minded, comprising works from unique crafts to industrial design. The exhibition work group was chaired by Managing Director Tapio Periäinen, and the exhibition architecture and graphic design were carried out by the young interior architect Stefan Lindfors.

The realisation of the exhibition was a kind of tent camp where individual works were displayed in tent-like spaces bordered by sheer white curtains. The exhibition poster designed by Lindfors attracted attention with its boldness. It was a “happy lion”, a colourful adaptation of the traditional Finnish heraldic lion.

Photo: Exhibition poster, design by Stefan Lindfors, photo Marco Melander

1993

Radio City broadcast live from Design Forum Finland on the Day of Design on 10 December 1993. The day’s chosen theme was furniture design, which fit well with the Habitaren huippuja (‘The Best of Habitare’) exhibition held at the time.

In the afternoon, three discussions were also held. Their topics included the ecologic nature of products, the design representative activity’s meaning to SMEs, and the education of the furniture sector, among others. The theme day attracted 400 interested visitors to Design Forum Finland and they were served Christmas porridge, as was customary.

In 1993, design was a topic of conversation even at the ministry level. Design Forum Finland gave its statement on the KUPOLI Kulttuuripolitiikan linjat report (the national cultural policy) of the Ministry of Education and on the Council of State’s culturopolitical account. The report of the strategy committee of industrial design, set by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, was published and Director Tapio Periäinen had been heard as an expert consultant in the preparation stage of the report.