Helsinki Design Week: "The Internet Of Things" And Laser-Etched Sausages

As part of our ongoing commitment to showcasing design and creativity internationally, we asked Finnish photographer, and journalist [Niina Virtanen](http:// http://ninnnuli.kuvat.fi/ ) to cover Helsinki Design Week (one of Finland's most prolific art events), and tell us about her favorite art and tech creations. Former World Design Capital, Finland is one of the most plugged-in, digitally savvy countries in Europe, and we're excited to be bringing this unique coverage.

The ninth annual Helsinki Design Week gathered designers, architects, artists and all sorts of innovators from the creative fields to open their studio doors for public view. The largest design event in the Nordic countries, the festival took place from 12-22 September 2013. With this year's theme Action! the country's best creative minds descended on Helsinki for this 11 day festival.

Internet of Things

The digital agency Frantic, located in the heart of Helsinki city center, held an event called Internet  of Things, where they showed how actual, concrete things that can be controlled through the Internet. The group presented, for instance, how electric toy racecars can be driven through a website while using mobile phones and tablets as controllers.

"This may seem like hacking, but there are already lots of things out there with the Internet, that just disappear into their surroundings. Eventually it will be melted all around us and become invisible", says Miika Puputti, a designer at Frantic.

One of the biggest hits of the night were the vegetable instruments controlled by a tool called MaKey MaKey (below). MaKey MaKey is a small circuit board you can attach to essentially anything that conducts electricity. With the edible instruments at the one end of the circuit, and the player stepping on a piece of tin foil at the other, the circuit was closed. The actual sounds came from GarageBand, so basically you could play Smoke on the Water with apples (see below).

“You have the possibility to literally use your whole physical environment as a playground, and you don't have to be an engineer, a geek or a programmer to do that. You just need some curiosity to come up with creative ideas about what to do," explains Michael Dlugosch, a strategist at Frantic and the conductor of the vegetables.

Laser Cut Studio

A few blocks away from Frantic, three designers were creating a range of objects with laser cutting at the Laser Cut Studio (see below).

What's special about the Laser Cut Studio compared to other laser cutting companies is it's also a small store where customers can pop in whenever it's open and order one of a kind laser-cut products done on the spot, regardless of what they are (a rarity in Helsinki). The team also recently started manufacturing their own designs sold in the studio an online, including laser-cut iPhone covers, glass bottles and jars, flasks, skateboard decks and jewelry. These products have become hugely popular locally, and have introduced new techniques into the creative community previously unheard of.

Since laser cutting is basically just high-power light, it can be used with almost anything (for instance food). To demonstrate, the boys at the studio were serving gingerbread with their own laser cut stamps on them, and mentioned they've also done laser cutting on sushi.

According to the designers, the strangest thing they were ever asked cut were pieces of sausage made into a unified surface for a Finnish artist. This surface would then be used to create a drawing of a Finnish ice-hockey legend, to be cut into the sausage.

3D Lab

By the seaside in a beautiful, 112-year-old hall building Aalto University’s Digital Design Laboratory, ADD, and Audi were presenting the endless possibilities of 3D printing. While 3D printing is currently mostly used in industrial manufacturing, it can also be applied to 3D printed skateboards, shoes and lamps could (seen at the 3D exhibition).

Images courtesy of Helsinki Design Week and Niina Virtanen

The basic principles of 3D printing are almost the same as printing with paper. The differences are the materials, which are usually plastic strings, metal particles or glass powder, as well as the length of the printing process. Also of course the fact that you have to make a 3D model of the printable item beforehand.

With the official technological innovator of Finland, Nokia mobile phones, sold to Microsoft, people were left guessing what would be the next big thing for Finland. ADD and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland believe 3D printing could be it. While many larger countries are emphasizing mass production with 3D printing, Finland's focus could be on more individualized products.

Open Studios

For those curious about other events that ocurred during HDW, the Open Studios event, 19-20 September, gave visitors the chance to experience first hand the creative spaces around Helsinki.

Photos courtesy of Ennisofia Salmela and Elina Alatalo

Helsinki Design Week