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Simo Puintila & Kaisu Savola’s installation Hidden Statements was presented at the LUX Helsinki light festival in January 2025

Since the 19th century, every era has had its own influential ‘hero designers’ and ‘star architects’ who, through their works and words, have defined the ideals of the built environment. Hidden Statements is a participatory work that allows visitors to explore the quotes of these famous architects and designers. However, when placed under the spotlight, difficult questions emerge between the lines: who gets to decide how and from what perspectives our living environments are designed? Whose voice remains unheard, and which viewpoints remain unexplored? 

Kaisu Savola is one of the speakers at this year’s Alvar Aalto Design Seminar

Checkpoint! How is the design heritage renewing itself? How will authentic and human design, crafts and cohabitation flourish in the age of AI? 

will be held on Tuesday 10.6.2025 in the Main Building of the University of Jyväskylä (Alvar Aalto, 1954-55). The one-day seminar opens up the challenges of today’s design field amidst major global changes. Three topical themes are Authenticity, Cohabitation and Evolution. We look with optimism towards a diverse future of sustainable development in design. The seminar’s first speakers are now listed: Designer Ineke Hans (NL), Professor Design & Social Context at UdK-Berlin (DE); Design Professor Ann Light, University of Sussex (UK) and Malmö University (SE); Design lead and entrepreneur Zeynep Falay Von Flittner, Falay Transition Design (FI/TUR); Design historian and curator Kaisu Savola, Aalto University (FI); Industrial designer Harri Koskinen, head of Friends of Industry Ltd. (FI) and CEO Hanna Neuvo, FYRA Design Agency (FI). 

A Work Of Translation: Researching Design Culture

Interview with Guy Julier and Annamari Vänskä in World Design Organisation Newsletter about Design Culture Research Group.  

In media

Nokian salaiset suunnitelmat - Viime tingassa pelastetut Nokian dokumentit avaavat uudenlaisen näkymän matkapuhelinten historiaan. HS Visio tutustui julkaisemattomia tuotteita ja luottamuksellisia suunnitelmia sisältävään muotoiluarkistoon. 

The Crazy Nokia Designs That Never Saw the Light of Day - The Nokia Design Archive features some of the company’s wackier mobile ideas, including wearables, a touchscreen credit card, and a phone that lets you feel the texture of images. 

Lord of the ringtones: Nokia celebrates pop-culture status by opening design archive. The mobile phones we loved then lost are honoured by an online archive which reveals history of bestselling brand. 

“Do you buy fashion from online stores? Customer data leaks to third parties, new study shows”. 

A newspaper article on the publication by Annamari Vänskä, Natalia Särmäkari and colleagues, Sunnuntaisuomalainen, 2 October (in Finnish).

Your taste is not yours. In datafied world, gathering data has become so precise that it is no longer possible to talk about an individual's taste in the sense that was previously thought. 

Annamari Vänskä's interview about taste and algorithms in the daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish).

Talks and discussions in September

Thursday 26th September Annamari Vänskä gives a talk on the lecture series Muodin huipulla at the Museum Milavida in Tampere. The title of her talk is “Aalto Fashion: Suomalaisen muodin edelläkävijä” (Aalto Fashion: The Forerunner of Finnish Fashion).

Friday 13th September Annamari Vänskä gives a talk at the Joensuu Literary Event “Taste in Literature and in Other Arts”. The title of her talk is “Kuka päättää mistä tykkäät? Maku digitalisoituvassa kulttuurissa” (Who decides what you like? Taste in digitalizing culture).

September 4th at . The book talk series Nide Live returns with a deep dive into the world of fashion and its many scandals – from marketing tools to existential crises. Authors and researchers Annamari Vänskä and Olga Gurova discuss their new book (Bloomsbury, 2024 ) that explores past fashion scandals, analyses recent controversies and brand responses, and shows a way forward towards a more just and inclusive fashion world. Nide (Fredrikinkatu 35) Free entry.