Habitare programme focuses on the future of design and interior decoration

This year, the theme of Habitare is Reimagine. The theme encourages reflection on what lifestyles and homes will be like in the future. Envisaging and creating new things features prominently in Habitare’s newly released programme on the Arena stage, with daily sub-themes exploring future approches to lifestyles and homes from different perspectives.

The theme of the opening day, Regenerate, invites us to envisage the future as something restorative and innovative. What does a future that holds opportunities look like? On Thursday, we will focus on relationships, and specifically on how interpersonal relationships and people’s relationship with space take on new dimensions.

On Friday, the focus will be on adaptable spaces, and on Saturday, on play in space. On Habitare’s last day, Sunday, the programme will highlight corporeality, including how physicality and the senses are taken into account in the design of spaces.

The programme explores the future and trends

On Wednesday, the opening day of the event, there will be two speeches by the International Friend of Habitare, the researcher, architect and curator, Joseph Grima. In his keynote speech, entitled The World We Want, on Wednesday at 15:00, Grima will discuss what kind of future we want to live in after the pandemic, and what role designers and the general public will play in creating it. Also on Wednesday, at 13:00, the selections by the International Friend of Habitare for the 2022 event’s most interesting products and phenomena will be announced.

Envisaging and creating something new is aided by anticipating and researching the future. What kind of future awaits us? Demos Helsinki, the think tank behind Habitare’s theme, will look at the future from different perspectives. Demos Helsinki’s senior consultant, Kati Ahvonen, will, in her speeches at 16:00 on Wednesday and at noon on Saturday, talk about Habitare’s theme Reimagine and what lifestyles and homes could be like in the future.

Sights will also be set on the future in the Signals trend lectures by the journalist and trend analyst Susanna Björklund. In her speeches, Björklund, the curator of Habitare’s popular Signals exhibition, which explores trends, megatrends and social phenomena, will elaborate on the trends and themes of the exhibition: Magic, Genuine and Meaningful, and Safety. The speeches will be held at 14:00 on Wednesday and at 15:00 on Saturday.

Finnish and international design at Habitare

Habitare highlights both upcoming and established designers from Finland and around the world. The architect and designer Ilkka Suppanen, who created the 2022 Habitare exhibition design, will talk about his design on Wednesday at 9:50 on the Arena stage. Entitled Bridge Works, the design is made from wood, in the spirit of sustainable development. Suppanen will take the stage for the second time when Malla Tapio interviews him on Thursday at 13:30 on winning the 2020 Kaj Franck Design Prize. Malla Tapio will interview the 2021 Kaj Franck Design Prize winner, Johanna Gullichsen, on Thursday at 15:30. The 2022 Kaj Franck Design Prize winner Kari Virtanen will have his own exhibition at the fair.

Fresh design names will be seen on the stage on Friday at 11:30, when Sami Sykkö interviews young designers featured at Habitare’sTalentshop and Protoshop on their products and design philosophy.

Highlighting Finnish design is important for Habitare, and one of two pop-up stands this year is by Vaarnii, a furniture company that relies heavily on Finnish tradition and vernacular design language. The founders of Vaarnii, chief creative officer Miklu Silvanto and CEO Antti Hirvonen, will talk about the company’s “brutal and sophisticated” ideology and what inspires them in Finnishness (on Sunday at 14:00).

The other pop-up stand belongs to Tokyo Saikai, the Japanese tableware manufacturer.

The Tapio Anttila Collection is another furniture brand that relies on the Finnish tradition. Their growth story and the possibilities of a Finnish brand on the world market will be discussed by Tapio and Arja Anttila on Saturday at 14:30.

Inspired by your own creation

At Habitare, visitors can try and touch the products and materials themselves. One such opportunity is the Habitarematerials concept, Habitare’s participatory exhibition experience, where visitors can freely combine various surface materials and experience the combinations of different surfaces and colours for themselves. The Arena stage will present daily Habitarematerials collages, as every day, Jussi and Maria Laine of NEMO Architects, who are the concept creators and curators, challenge a design professional visiting the event to create their own collage.

Habitare visitors can also make their own creations in the workshops in the Decor area, where they can, for example, learn to make their own dried-flower wreaths, under the guidance of florists from Kukkatehdas. On the Folk stage, visitors will be able to see demonstrations and get tips on home decoration.

The Photo, Video & Sound programme to feature image processing and photographers’ stories

Partially coinciding with Habitare, the Photo, Video & Sound event will be held at Messukeskus from 9 to 11 September 2022, focusing on photography and video, and sound recording, editing and sharing. The event programme presents a diverse overview of image and sound. Representatives of Adobe and VisuaaliviestinnänInstituutti VVI (‘Institute of Visual Communication’) will give presentations on image processing, while the sound programme will include, for example, podcasts and the basics of sound processing. The event will also feature Finnish photographers such as Konsta Punkka, Tiina Haring and Onni Wiljami Kinnunen, who will bring stories and photographs onto the stage. The full programme of Photo, Video & Sound will be announced in June.

Check out the full Habitare programme: www.habitare.fi

More information: 

Habitare, communications manager Marissa Rämänen, marissa.ramanen@messukeskus.com, tel. +358 44 046 7220 

Habitare 

Habitare, the largest furniture, design and interior decoration event in Finland, will be held at Messukeskus in Helsinki, from 7 to 11 September 2022. Habitare offers experiences and ideas on interior decoration, and on the functioning and look of homes and other spaces. Habitare highlights the ideas and works by a new generation of designers, and sparks discussion. The International Friend of Habitare in 2022 is Joseph Grima. |www.habitare.fi | @HabitareFair | www.facebook.com/habitare | #habitare2022 

Photo, Video & Sound 

Partially coinciding with Habitare, the Photo, Video & Sound event will be held from 9 to 11 September 2022, focusing on photography and video, and sound recording, editing and sharing. | kuvamessut.fi | #kuvajaääni