Emerging names in Finnish Contemporary Crafts

What are the realities and big turns of the design industry today and how are the emerging Finnish designers responding these challenges within their practices.

Contemporary crafts and the culture of studio-produced design is booming worldwide. Instead of mass production, emerging designers have chosen to work based on small scales and limited editions. Contemporary crafts often combine conceptual design with local, traditional high-end craftsmanship.

This might be a direction where design is in general heading. In the precarious world the relationship with material possessions have changed. People will buy less, and more meaningful products. Thus, contemporary crafts can have a fascinating potential to alter global mechanisms of mass production and consumption.

The lecture will explore the phenomena of contemporary Finnish crafts and highlight some of the most interesting names within the field, such as Kustaa Saksi, Tuomas Markunpoika, Company and Kirsi Enkovaara.

Suvi Saloniemi (b. 1980) is Chief Curator at Design Museum Helsinki, an internationally recognised museum of Finnish design. Founded in 1873 the museum holds a national collection of 75 000 objects. Saloniemi curates exhibitions spanning numerous design disciplines and eras, including an extensive exhibitions of Eero Aarnio (2016), Ilmari Tapiovaara (2014) and Henrik Vibskov (2014). She speaks and lectures internationally and has many positions of trust such as nominator for the Designs of the Year in London Design Museum and advisory board member of Chart Design Fair, Copenhagen. Her background is in art history studies at the University of Helsinki and at the University of Stockholm, and curating studies at the Aalto University of Art, Design and Architecture.