Helsiki Calling... (Page 1)

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Preeti Verma Lal visits the Helsinki Design District in Finland and finds Creativity throbbing on every corner of the design hub, where everything seems to have a pattern, a method, a design

You must have heard of a neighbourhood. You must have known about a state of mind. But have you ever heard of a design hub called "a neighbourhood and a state of mind"? No? That is what the Helsinki Design District calls itself. That is not where their explanation ends, however. This is what the Design District has to say about its raison d'etre: We stand united against mediocrity, lack of perspective, amorphousness and hopelessness. Together we defend clarity of thought, bold acts, creativity, community and all that bubbles under the surface.

I was in Helsinki in search of that creativity in the city and in the Design District that sprawls across 25 streets and is also called a piece of Helsinki. That piece which holds the city in its microcosm. If you are in a hurry and need to see Helsinki-its creativity, its uniqueness, its exoticism, its design, its city culture-within the blink of an eye, head to the Design District.

For me, that neighbourhood and state of mind had to wait. I began my design hop in Helsinki with Skanno, the design store that sits by a river and the Cable Factory with its famous red bricks. What began as a small store by economist PO Walhberg in 1946 today symbolises all that is trendy in the world of interior design. The honour of bringing Italian design houses into Finland goes to Skanno, which is still a family-owned business. Barbara Roos Palotie, the Owner, trudges across the world to handpick the best in light fixtures, furniture, rugs, mats, the colours as mind-boggling as the range. Walk into Skanno and you would see lighting fixtures that look like jewllery, sofas in unusual shapes, hammocks that are more comfy than the king's bed, lamps that resemble layered skirt and rugs that you would want to stack in the museum and not spread on the floor. Such is the repute of Skanno that Wallpaper magazine once called it "worth a visit to Helsinki."
(Continues...)

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