Habitare – a top event in Finnish design
Habitare, the leading design, furniture, and interior decoration event in Finland, is an internationally significant showcase of Finnish design that contributes to building the identity of Finnish design. Held since 1970, Habitare is a unique event in Europe, specialising in design and furniture: Habitare is targeted at both professionals and the general public with almost 13,000 of the total 59,200 visitors being professionals.
With its organiser, Messukeskus Helsinki, Habitare has grown into an exciting, lively and international design event. Since 2016, after major reforms, Habitare has become a comprehensive event that covers all aspects of the home and the good life, featuring, for example, furniture, interior and lifestyle products, all spaces of the home, surface materials, and home appliances – an entire way of life. Habitare sees the home as an extension of our identity, and as an environment in which to test our tastes, creativity, and ways of life.
“We are developing Habitare to make it more of an experience for visitors. Companies have eagerly developed their stands into spaces in which visitors will want to stay for a long time and play an active role, and not just be spectators. We want to promote dialogue, feeling at home, and relaxation, and to offer people an experience,” says the creative director at Habitare, Laura Sarvilinna.
“Over the last three years, Habitare has seen a significant increase in the number of visitors. In 2016, Habitare was attended by 51,600 visitors, while in 2018, the visitor count increased to 59,200. Our international programme with top name speakers and Habitare’s curated content have also increased the number of professional visitors. In 2018, a total of 13,000 professionals visited Habitare and the Habitare Pro B2B event”, says Laura Sarvilinna.
The International Friend of Habitare, and a rich programme
Boasting an exceptionally rich programme, Habitare will bring international and Finnish guest speakers in front of design lovers. Since 2016, Habitare has invited a prominent and influential design figure to be its International Friend. The International Friend will enter into dialogue with Habitare, exploring design directions and industry trends. The International Friends of Habitare were Cara McCarty, the curatorial director at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Masaaki Kanai, the chairman and representative director of MUJI and Alice Rawsthorn, the design critic and author.
Stands and exhibitions to offer experiences
Habitare 2018 featured 450 companies, most of which represent Finnish and Scandinavian design. The exhibitors’ offerings are complemented by Habitare’s own exhibitions, which provide visitors with a deeper understanding of design and interior decoration. Each year, most attention, both internationally and nationally in Finland, is given to Habitare’s Protoshop and Talentshop exhibitions, featuring young designers, and the Signals trend exhibition.
Habitare’s Protoshop introduces new product ideas to manufacturers and the general public. The Protoshop exhibition is curated for Habitare by the designer group Imu Design, which includes Elina Aalto, Saara Renvall and Krista Kosonen. Each year, more than one hundred product ideas are submitted to Protoshop, and drawing on their years of experience, Aalto, Kosonen and Renvall select designs for the exhibition that demonstrate good product potential and that nicely reflect today’s home decorating trends.
The products exhibited are thematically contemporary, but their design idiom and materials are timeless.
Each year, Habitare’s Talentshop presents the most exciting Finnish designers whom audiences in Finland and around the world should be following at that moment. Talentshop is curated for Habitare by Imu Design.
Signals is Habitare’s experiential, unique and multisensory exhibition, which will present four social trends through four rooms containing different worlds of objects and colours. This year, the quiet signals related to trends are shown under four themes: the Renaissance, Glamour, Dreamworld, and Bare and pure. The exhibition is curated by the trend analyst Susanna Björklund and the designer Sisse Collander.
For more information:
Habitare, communications manager Johanna Suni, tel. +358 40 515 4216, johanna.suni@messukeskus.com
Photo 1: Hakola stand was awarded by the Design Editors in Finland, photo Maija Astikainen
Photo 2: Talentshop designers’ stands at the Block area, photo Maija Astikainen
Habitare Press images: bit.ly/Habitare2018Press
Habitare, the largest furniture, design and interior decoration event in Finland, will be held at Messukeskus in Helsinki, next time 11-15 September 2019. 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. To be held concurrently with Habitare is the Habitare Pro b2b event. www.habitare.fi | @HabitareFair | www.facebook.com/habitare | #habitare2018 |