Helsinki World Design Capital 2012

The New Year celebrations rang out around the globe at the weekend but they partied bigger and better than most in Helsinki to celebrate the city’s 2012 role as World Design Capital. The Finnish capital follows Turin and Seoul in taking on the mantle and has put together an exciting programme of events, exhibitions and talks to celebrate Finland’s design heritage and look forward to how the country should embrace design to maximise its commercial, cultural, social and environmental potential.

At the London launch event, organisers stressed that they wanted to explore design in a very real, pragmatic context rather than as a theoretical or academic discipline, and executive director Pekka Timonen said: “Design is now part of Helsinki’s city strategy. This city has a great design heritage and we’ve made it our mission to embed design in life and to see it influence the culture, economy and social life of the city.”

We will be keeping a close eye on the goings-on in Helsinki throughout the next 12 months and will bring you the very best from the year-lomg festival here on It’s Nice That.