Design Forum Finland

Design Forum Finland actively promotes the competitiveness and development of Finnish industry and culture through the means of design. This work seeks to improve the exposure of Finnish design and to increase the use and applications of design in industry. Design Forum is an information centre of design presenting a wide range of news and materials on the achievements and strengths of Finnish design both within the country and abroad. Design Forum organizes exhibitions both in Finland and internationally, in addition to projects promoting the use of design, information services and publications.


Design Forum Finland is maintained by the Finnish Society for Crafts and Design, which was founded in 1875.

The Finnish Society of Crafts and Design was founded in 1875, when Finland was still under Russian control. The founders of the society were a group of influential people in the cultural arena and captains of industry. Examples were sought among Europe's foremost schools of industrial arts and crafts. At first the society maintained a school which taught manual skills and assembled a collection of international industrial arts and crafts. On the initiative of a founder of the society, Professor of Aesthetics Carl Gustaf Estlander, a major new construction project was carried out together with the Finnish Fine Arts Association. The building which resulted from this, the Ateneum, became a museum and institute of education for Finnish fine art and industrial arts.

Gradually the school grew and won an established place as the leading Finnish college in its field. In 1965 it became owned by the Finnish state and it later became a university, the University of Art and Design Helsinki, as it is called today. The society also founded the Museum of Art and Design, which after an eventful history became owned by an independent foundation in 1989.

The history of the society also includes the famous Finnish sections at Milan Triennales in the 1950s and '60s, the golden age of Finnish design, when many prestigious designers won awards and international fame with their products. The society also actively arranged touring exhibitions of Finnish and Nordic design. The best-known of these toured the USA in the 1950s and Australia and Asia in the 1960s. International activities have therefore always played an important part in the society's work.

After divesting itself of the school and museum, the society turned its efforts in a new direction. At the end of the 1980s, a new, international name was adopted, Design Forum Finland. The core business was to promote design among small and medium-sized industry as well as international operations. Operations settled down in the form of exhibitions in Finland and abroad, publicity and communications, publications, competitions and awards.

In Hotel Helka Design Forum Finland has a small display for unique items and competition winner’s work. Small Finnish Design souveniers – suitable for suitcase – is also available at reception .