Helsinki 2012...

Helsinki 2012...

The Australian Design Review recently took a look at the projected impact the World Design Capital program has on the International Design landscape, with particular interest paid to this years chosen capital: Helsinki.

Author Michael Carr suggests that whilst the breadth of the program and the content quality is important, the benefits that are more broadly imparted to an entire community and the enrichment that results from being immersed in the program – are the greatest legacy the WDC can offer. Not to mention the bonds that develop across borders and across the globe in the process of planning, visiting and covering the event.

“The WDC program essentially serves as a template for cities to participate in a global dialogue, to fix a sharp focus on design and how it can help our societies progress, while at the same time offering the chance to place their local industries at the centre of the conversation.”

Helsinki, already very much an aesthetes city, has embraced the opportunity with strong support from the Finnish goverment and a renewed interest in designed outcomes, organisers hope that locally the importance of design - indeed the need for authentic, original design - can transcend furnishings and lighting and is a matter applicable to public and private sectors on many levels.

Employing the tagline: Emedding Design In Life  this message is reaching into society beyond the limits of the design community - which can only serve to strengthen support for the cause.

Read Michael Carr's piece here.

For more on World Design Capital: Helsinki 2012 click here.

• Australian Design Review
• Helsinki
• Michael Carr
• World Design Capital

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