Winners of the Habitare Design Competition 2024 announced: Henry Lång, Ella Nikulainen and Jenni Suur-Inkeroinen 

The winners of the 2024 Habitare Design Competition, organised by Habitare and Aalto University are Henry Lång, Ella Nikulainen and Jenni Suur-Inkeroinen. The competition's head judge, Studio Tolvanen, chose the winning entry from a shortlist of five finalists. The winner will receive a €5,000 grant donated by the Finnish Fair Foundation. The finalist designs will be displayed at Habitare, to be held at the Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre from 11 to 15 September 2024.

This year’s competition theme was "Comfort Zone". The task was to design a space that not only offers comfort but also invites deeper reflection on its meaning.   

The concept or use of materials in the competition entries was required to embody Habitare’s 2024 theme, "Layers". This theme explores how homes and spaces are created: how the present is shaped by the past, individual styles, unseen elements, dialogues, and the intersections of various influences.  

Loom Room by Henry Lång and Ella Nikulainen is a communal, joyful, and connecting, inspiring space, with a fresh use for a traditional Finnish craft technique that playfully merges with modern shared living and doing. Hali by Jenni Suur-Inkeroinen took a very different approach to comfort, creating a personal space that doubles as an object you can wear. It reflects as a private sanctuary, where one is allowed to be at peace, hidden, and alone. The winners were all students from Aalto University. 

“These two works stood out from the rest and complemented each other in terms of the theme and the task. Both were equally strong concepts, so we decided to split the prize between two entries”, Julie and Mika Tolvanen of Studio Tolvanen explain. 

The Habitare Design Competition 2024 winner will receive a €5,000 grant donated by the Finnish Fair Foundation.  

FINALISTS 2024   

1 Aini Alastalo and Eemeli Sahimaa: Hurdles of Comfort   

“The design challenges us by evoking a metaphorical image of how people compete culturally in the ways that relaxing and being comfortable look and feel, both at home and beyond. We wanted to use our design to create a scenario or a stopped moment in which this competition has ended, and everyone is just encouraged to relax in a way that suits them best.   

2 Anna-Karoliina Boele, Laura Johansson and Ella Kankaanpää: Pirta (‘Reed’) – Layers of Comfort   

“The theme of the competition raised questions about comfort and relaxation – do we need external stimuli to feel comfortable? In our opinion, comfort and genuine presence are not things that we can execute or force, but we must give them time, and this requires patience.   

In the spirit of the Habitare theme of Layers, our design discusses the layers of time, materials, and body and mind. With our concept, we aim to offer people a comfort zone that would remind the body and the mind of the feeling of lying on a dock or sitting on a cliff, taking in nature.”   

3 Henry Lång and Ella Nikulainen: Loom Room   

“The experiences of comfort and cosiness are built over time, involving layers of different memories. A personal and comfortable space requires courage to choose things that you like and that feel good to you. We feel most comfortable in spaces on which we have left our mark and that we have made our own. Loom Room is a spatial design that relies on the relationship between layeredness and comfort. It consists of three wall elements that can be moved around and repositioned at the user’s will.   

Exhibition visitors are welcome to participate in the creation of a common tapestry and to strengthen their personal experience of their own place. Through fabrics of many colours, lengths, materials and thicknesses, an interesting and layered tapestry is formed on the walls of the space.”    

4 Jenni Suur-Inkeroinen: Hali (‘Hug’)   

“Hali is a cuddle blanket inspired by the need for closeness. The starting point of the design is to bring the user a sense of safety through the enveloping hug, with the user hugging the blanket back. I interpreted the comfort zone to be a space that feels safe. A hug is a natural way of comforting and being comforted, which is why I consider it the safest space.”   

5 Tiia Tietäväinen: Harmonia (‘Harmony’)   

“Through the Harmonia mobile, my aim is to evoke feelings of balance and safety, as well as to create visual joy through tranquil movement. The swaying of the mobile does not unbalance the whole, but it keeps moving smoothly until the movement stabilises. This symbolises the safe space created by the comfort zone, which supports and helps an individual to recover from challenging situations. A mobile is also a practical tool that reminds the viewer to stop and enjoy the moment and to find safety and inspiration from their comfort zone.   

The mobile also embodies the Habitare theme of Layers, as it is built from layers of parts, and the comfort zone from the layered character of experiences.”   

Photos of the winners and finalists can be downloaded here 

More information:    

Pia Sievinen, communication & brand, Habitare, tel. +358 40 559 9155, pia.sievinen@messukeskus.com   

Habitare, the leading furniture, design and interiors event in the Nordic countries, will be held at the Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre from 11 to 15 September 2024. | habitare.fi | | @habitarefair | #habitare2024