Helsinki Design Week’s 20th Anniversary Programme Announced

The main venue for Helsinki Design Week (HDW) in 2025, taking place 5-14 September, will be Suomitalo, located next to the Old Church Park in the heart of Helsinki. The programme includes exhibitions, discussions, launches, workshops, and evening events for design professionals and the general public. In addition to the main venue, the festival will spread across the Helsinki metropolitan area with nearly one hundred design-related events.

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Main Exhibition: Designing Happiness

At the heart of the festival is the international main exhibition Designing Happiness, curated by curator, researcher, and educator Anniina Koivu. The exhibition explores whether happiness can be designed, drawing inspiration from what has been called the “happiness cocktail” – the combination of dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins that influence our experience of wellbeing and joy.

The exhibition features works by renowned designers such as Eero Aarnio, Erwan Bouroullec, Oiva Toikka, Clara von Zweigbergk, and many more from Finland and around the world. The exhibition architecture is designed by Camille Blin, Anthony Guex, and Christian Spiess from XPO, with graphic design by Robbie Mahoney. A symposium inspired by the exhibition, also titled Designing Happiness, will take place on Thursday, 12 September in collaboration with the City of Helsinki. The speakers will be announced in August. As part of the collaboration with the City of Helsinki, the Helsinki Design Award will also be presented during the festival.

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Festival Theme 2025: Celebration

The 2025 theme for HDW is Celebration. Celebrations are conscious pauses to reflect on achievements or milestones and, most importantly, to express hopes for the future. At Suomitalo, this theme is interpreted by a group of exciting design brands and designers, who will create spatial installations in the rooms of the fourth floor. Participants include, among others, Artek and SAAS Instruments.

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Daily Programming and Evening Experiences

Back by popular demand, the much-loved pop-up restaurant by Kuurna will return, this time to the top floor of Suomitalo – fittingly, as Kuurna is also celebrating its 20th anniversary. The fourth floor will also host Collusion’s wine bar, with bar snacks provided by Kuurna’s new wine bar, Klaava.

Each day, Suomitalo will offer design- and architecture-themed discussions. The Weekly Talks series will cover topics such as new materials, urban development, and cross-disciplinary creativity. On 9 September, JKMM Architects and the Finnish National Museum will host a conversation on the topic of the museum’s extension project and renovation. On Fashion Day, 10 September, Fashion Community Helsinki will organise a salon-style fashion show, and MA students from Aalto University will present and discuss their Kukkapuro design project, made from EU-grown cotton.

Other highlights during the week include the Ornamo Design Dialogue event for professionals on 9 September and CIRCLE, a social evening hosted by the Toivola Festival on 8 September, where six compelling voices come together to discuss life’s big themes – money, love, power, beauty, and sustainable living.

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Celebrating Design Across the City

The HDW classic Design Market will return to Kaapelitehdas on the festival’s opening weekend, 6–7 September. High-quality vendors of furniture, homeware and clothing from Finland and nearby countries will once again take over Merikaapelihalli. Also at Kaapelitehdas will be Aalto University’s ARTEFAKTI degree show, various workshops, and more – including a celebratory cake café for the anniversary. HDW’s Children’s Design Week will also be held here, with the Skidit collective presenting a Skiddo Party! installation experience for the whole family in Puristamo – complete with a giant cake and sprinkles.

Open Studios will grant access to some of the city’s most intriguing studios on 5 and 12 September, and the Design Diplomacy discussion series will host international designers in ambassadors’ residences from 10 to 12 September. The ever-popular PechaKucha Night takes place on 12 September, just next door to Finland House, in the Old Church.

The new Museum of Architecture and Design will announce the results of its architectural design competition for the new museum building, Aalto University will also present its Designs for a Cooler Planet mega-exhibition, while Habitare, the furniture, design and interior fair, will be held at the expo and convention centre Messukeskus Helsinki. Other events include Hanna Anonen’s Doodle sketch exhibition, the launch of Stefan Lindfors’ new collection at Post Bar, Sense of Spirituality – an exhibition on contemporary spiritual phenomena – and student-designed sports equipment showcased at the Sports and Physical Activity Culture Centre, Tahto.

Panel discussions will explore topics such as picture book illustration, connections between Arabia’s design history and contemporary demolition-site art, and the role of darkness in design.