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News • Helsinki • Finland • 2012-01-30

The WDC Helsinki 2012 Open Doors Weekend is a design carnival with over 180 events

World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 producers will open their doors during the WDC Helsinki 2012 Open Doors Weekend from 3 to 5 February 2012. The three-day design carnival will delight the residents of five cities as well as tourists with its 180 events.

You can download the weekend programme at www.wdchelsinki2012.fi. The programme will also be available as an insert in the Helsingin Uutiset, Länsiväylä and Vantaan Sanomat newspapers on Wednesday 1 February 2012.

The events promise to offer design in surprising forms and places, performances, guidance for visitors, lectures, workshops and ideation projects.The Restaurant Day events which will spice up the culinary offerings of the cities will also be part of the weekend programme on Saturday 4 February.

One of the venues in Helsinki will be Senate Square with its surroundings. Wonderwater Frozen Lights will invite everyone to participate in the joint ice lantern project on Saturday 4 February. You can bring your own lantern to Senate Square where a judging panel will assess all lanterns and give awards for the best designs. Designers will also be involved in the event, producing their own ice lantern designs, and there will be a general discussion concerning water consumption. Participants can warm up at the WDC Helsinki 2012 studio facilities which are adjacent to the market and where workshops will be organised from Friday to Sunday.

One \'must see\' place in Espoo is the WeeGee Exhibition Centre which will open for over ten events and workshops during the weekend. Furthermore, WeeGee will be the venue for the Espoo WDC Helsinki 2012 meeting place, the Design Espoo! exhibition. A design weekend intended for the whole family will also be organised at Annantalo Centre where illustrators, authors and story tellers, the so-called ‘reading aunts’, will lead the celebrations.

The key meeting place in Vantaa will be Tikkurila where events will be organised at several venues, including the Vantaa Design Window specifically opened for WDC Helsinki 2012 and the Finnish Science Centre Heureka. The WDC Helsinki Open Doors Weekend will even reach as far as the airport where travellers and those seeing them off will be offered an unhurried moment through the Rocking Chairs Occupy the Airport event.

Lahti will offer open and ecological events: on Saturday, the Ekolandia exhibition as well as the Cleandesign Center will be open to the public. Taitokeskus Velma will offer an opportunity to get together as a family at non-stop workshops and the Lahti Muotohuoltamo Centre will offer various events throughout the weekend.

Several venues will allow visitors a chance to see designers and design agencies both during weekdays and festivities. There will be opportunities to meet both individual designers and entire communities – with free help on offer as well: The OpenHouseHelsinki Architehture Clinic will offer the public access to SAFA architects for acute or chronic design questions. The Helsinki Design District will organise workshops, open doors events, ideation projects and a display window exhibition. A good starting point will be Diana Park where visitors will receive an area map and guidance to the shops in the area.

Lahti will offer an opportunity for adventure at the Designer\'s Street where the theme of the weekend will be ‘internationality’.

The themes of WDC Helsinki 2012 will be delved into from many different perspectives. Friday 3 February will be declared as the National E-mail box clean-out day and each and everyone will be encouraged to improve their performance by carrying out a major decluttering. Instructions are available at www.suurintyhjentaja.fi.

On Saturday 4 February, Korjaamo Culture Factory will offer an Open Data Day where open data will meet visual design and city culture. The day will continue with an international Cut&Paste animation design competition.

The design carnival will also provide an opportunity to discover new facilities. On Friday 3 February, the University of Helsinki will open a Science Corner to all in the city centre street Aleksanterinkatu. On Saturday 4 February, the Viewmasters new facility Laboratory will prepare for its first exhibition with both esthetic and culinary delicacies on offer. The Kamppi Chapel of Silence construction site will also open for public tours on Saturday 4 February. Chief architect Mikko Summanen will be the tour guide for preregistered visitors.

The WDC Helsinki 2012 Open Doors Weekend programme will also include Mitten Truck at the Narinkka Square, Open Doors Weekend for Skateboarders at the Kontula skateboarding hall, Muovo Pie Bar in Herttoniemi, Kääntöpöytä (Traverser table) in Pasila and the Abattoir Culinary Culture Sauna. Numerous companies from Nokia to Fortum and from MTV3 to Iittala will expand on the backgrounds of their design knowhow.

The entire programme is available at www.wdchelsinki2012.fi.

For further details, please contact:

WDC Helsinki 2012 Open Doors Weekend

Producer Anna Häkkinen, World Design Capital Helsinki 2012, anna.hakkinen@wdchelsinki2012.fi, 040 672 4622

Helsinki together with Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen and Lahti is to be the World Design Capital 2012. The WDC Helsinki 2012 theme is Open Helsinki – Embedding Design in Life.

World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 main partners

Blue1, BMW, Finavia – Helsinki Airport, Fortum, HOK-Elanto, KONE, Martela, MTV MEDIA, Nokia, Sanoma Magazines Finland, UPM, Viking Line

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