Travel report from Fiskars
In the picturesque village, Fiskars, about an hour west of Helsingfors, people from all over the world gather to experience art, design and architecture. The village is known for its ironworks which developed into the world-renowned company Fiskars. During the summer, Fiskars comes alive as a tourist destination with crafts, design and art activities.
In 2020 Luovi Productions inaugurated Fiskars Village Art and Design Biennale for the first time. In 2022 the biennale is back again with higher ambitions than ever. Now there are three main exhibitions and an exciting parallel program
The exhibition, Hidden – forms of the senses, is about sensory impressions. Beautiful wooden cabinets that play when you open them, an incredibly beautiful installation of dried, pink flowers that slowly rotate and create a beautiful experience of constantly changing light. The classic door knocker has had a design revival that makes you very eager to decorate our sommarnöjen with.
A table where thousands of small iron balls roll and create new patterns into infinity while the sound reminds of waves breaking on a beach. The exhibition is fascinating and reminds me how important it is that all of the body's senses take in the surroundings. It makes me wonder, how do our houses sound? What does it feel like to run your hand over finely sawn carpentry and walk barefoot on sun-warmed floor boards? I want to preserve forever the smell of tar paint and wood in a brand new house.
Sommarnöjen at the biennale
The next exhibition, House by an architect, is located a short walk away along the river. Here six mini houses are set up. You cannot miss our green Sommarnöje which stands in the middle with a large multi-level terrace in front. The house is furnished by the designer Joanna Amemori Koskinen from Artek in collaboration with the curator of the entire exhibition, Ulla Koskinen, founder and editor-in-chief of the magazine Asun.
The other five houses inspire with their architecture. Kore-kojan, designed by students from Aalto University's wood studio, has a sleeping loft in the middle of the room with a skylight that provides fantastic light and you can easily imagine what it would be like to lie here on a starry night.
The house Ufo, from Ateljé Sotamaa, indeed looks like a black, closed UFO from the front but offers a much brighter interior. One window, completely without visible frames, makes up one wall and the roof is largely made of glass. It gives the room a powerful feeling and you can easily daydream and see a beautiful archipelago spread out before you. The house, Hammoc, by Aslltk is built of sturdy log walls. Smart architecture creates an inner mini garden with a large green rhododendron beside the minimalist bed which is the house's only piece of furniture.
All the houses have many clever solutions for small spaces. Common to them all are the large panes of glass that give a sense that the houses are larger than they actually are. Apart from the green color, the Sommarnöjen house is not the most eye-catching house at the exhibition. But it is without doubt the most functional and thoroughly worked house. As a visitor you are fascinated by the finish and that no detail seems ill-considered. But we are also the only house that has been built many times before. That has been refined and redrawn. That has been tested and developed and renewed within strict frameworks.
The third main exhibition is, U-joints: Knots & Knits, which highlights the various joints of design and architecture that are otherwise mostly hidden as part of the design. In addition to the three main exhibitions there is a substantial parallel program.
We leave here with much inspiration and a desire to continue to turn our architecture over and over. Is it possible to install large skylights that will hold our lifts? Is it possible to make frameless windows? Perhaps an atrium or mini garden in the middle of a house? I only know that when Sommarnöjen presents a new model or development it will be considered down to the smallest detail.
The exhibition runs until September 4, take the opportunity to go there! If you are lucky a seventh house will have been put in place by then.
Read more about Fiskars Village Art & Design Biennale >
