Nordic design events are engaged in a battle for supremacy. Where the Stockholm Furniture Fair is struggling to attract attendees to the Swedish capital every February, the sunny offerings of Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design and Helsinki Design Week are going from strength to strength. More than 150,000 people are expected to attend the latter, which is currently in full swing and runs until 14 September. Talks, exhibitions and product launches are taking place in venues across Helsinki, with an emphasis on materiality, functionality and design’s role in society. The event’s headline exhibition, Designing Happiness, examines how design fosters wellbeing – an apt theme for a nation that has been declared the world’s happiest for the past eight years.

The programme is broad but there’s a sense of intimacy. Leading studios have opened their doors, offering glimpses of the lives of Helsinki’s designers. Finnish textile brand Johanna Gullichsen has transformed its city-centre showroom into a sound installation, while Artek is launching a collaboration with Marimekko. The Design Diplomacy showcase, a Helsinki Design Week favourite, will again invite the public into ambassadors’ residences. Habitare, the region’s largest interiors fair, begins today and provides a rare opportunity to buy furniture directly from the trade-hall floor.

But what truly sets Helsinki Design Week apart is that it’s family run. Founded 20 years ago by Kari Korkman, who still serves as its CEO, the festival is now a multigenerational effort: his daughters, Anni and Iris, are its programme director and its community manager respectively. It’s often assumed that the city organises the event but the Korkmans are responsible for shaping its vision and ensuring continuity. The family is more willing to take risks than a public body and design brands no doubt prefer dealing with a nimble company over a bureaucratic city committee. The long-term stewardship also ensures a consistency that rotating civil servants would struggle to provide. The benefits of such a model are clear and, as Designing Happiness curator Anniina Koivu says, “There’s always someone on the line and there’s a genuine sense of community.”

The Korkmans downplay their private role – their company, Luovi Productions, is rarely mentioned. But the remarkable reality is that one of Finland’s most visible showcases runs largely without state backing. The sums allocated by the City of Helsinki and the Finnish government are on a par with amounts given to a small regional sports meet – hardly befitting an international cultural flagship seeking to rival the likes of Copenhagen and stay ahead of Stockholm. The city, however, has steadily cut its contribution. If Helsinki wants to be taken seriously as a design capital, it cannot outsource its cultural reputation to a single family. A stronger commitment is needed – not just words but meaningful investment.

Petri Burtsoff is Monocle’s Helsinki correspondent. For more design news and analysis, visit monocle.com.

Located in the heart of Helsinki, Suomital is a commercial building that dates to 1911. Over the coming days it’s playing a central role in the city’s design week as its main venue, with the fifth floor serving seasonal, Finnish dishes in a pop-up restaurant. Helmed by the team behind Kuurna, it’s a delicious exercise in drinking and dining. Design, of course, is served up too, with guests able to test out chairs, tables, cutlery and crockery by Finnish Design Shop and Danish manufacturer Hay.

“Both companies share a passion for spreading the message of Nordic design – and where better to do so than around a shared meal in beautiful architectural surroundings,” explains Noora Tirkkonen, managing director of Finnish Design Shop. “Hay’s playful style fits perfectly with the pop-up’s festive yet relaxed nature. We are also excited to provide some visual delight by setting the table with the new La Pittura collection by artist Emma Kohlmann.” Bookings are now open for lunch and dinner reservations until 13 September. For those who don’t find a seat, the bar area is available to walk-ins ready to toast to good design.
finnishdesignshop.com; hay.com

Book your table at the Kuurna pop-up restaurant here.

Seoul-based Fabrikr transcends the traditional boundaries between art, craft and furniture making. The practice’s name means “people who manufacture with fabric” – a reference to the studio’s use of discarded textiles, which it transforms into conceptual interior pieces. Fabrikr’s work is on show at Design Miami in Situ in Seoul, the first Asian iteration of the US collectable-design event. Running until 14 September at the Zaha Hadid-designed Dongdaemun Design Plaza, the showcase features 170 pieces by 71 South Korean artists, from traditional craft to contemporary innovations. Here, we speak to Fabrikr’s co-founders, Dong Kyu Kim and Kim Seong-jo.

How is Design Miami’s event in Seoul contributing to South Korea’s design scene?
Dong Kyu Kim: With K-pop’s global popularity, we feel that this exhibition comes at a moment when the world’s gaze is already turning towards Seoul. We believe that it’s an important beginning in terms of bringing South Korean designers to the international stage.

Which pieces are you showing at the event?
Kim Seong-jo: Sparrow Chair (2025) and Nest Table (2025). The chair’s backrest and armrests take the shape of a sparrow perched on a tree, while the side table exposes the irregular grain of wood reclaimed from a demolished hanok [a traditional Korean house].

Which designer or design movement has influenced you the most?
DK: Arte povera and postmodernism. And among designers and architects, Gaetano Pesce and Le Corbusier. As a studio working across both objects and architecture, Fabrikr is less concerned with a universal or singular truth than with exploring diverse perspectives.

The sky’s the limit: which work of design would you love to own?
KS: A Giacometti coat stand. I read an interview with Gaetano Pesce, who told an anecdote about a party that he attended at Peggy Guggenheim’s gallery home in Venice. When he arrived, a man greeted him at the door and offered to take his coat, proceeding to hang it on a Giacometti sculpture. Pesce was initially horrified, concerned that it would ruin the sculpture but, to his surprise, it held its weight. In that moment, he came to understand that the Giacometti masterpiece could serve as a sculpture by day and as a coat stand by night. To us, that represents collectable design.

What is a favourite project that you have worked on?
DK: The Hotel Chicory project in Hannam-dong, Seoul. The building was used as a small inn for 40 years and will completely disappear within the next decade as a result of redevelopment. Our work was about preserving and reinterpreting what is destined to vanish. We redesigned both the building and all of the objects within it. This project hasn’t been officially unveiled yet; it’s scheduled to open in the coming months.

What is your dream commission?
KS: South Korea is facing the challenges of regional decline and a falling population. Our dream commission would be a project that could help to revitalise a provincial city. We believe that a mature society must embrace diversity and, for our generation, addressing this issue feels like a responsibility.

What should be a priority for you and the industry, going forward?
DK: Finding meaning in an age filled with meaninglessness – and embodying the spirit of our times in what we create.

For more from design studios such as Fabrikr, visit Design Miami in Situ in Seoul or tune in to ‘Monocle on Design’ on Monocle Radio.

International travellers arriving in Seoul for Design Miami are likely to be zipped into town in a Genesis or an electric Hyundai Ioniq – but 70 years ago a Sibal would have provided the ride from the airport. South Korea’s first domestically produced car, with a name that means “inception”, was developed by three brothers out of spare parts from Willys Jeeps left behind by the US Army. The angular, two-door ride, which could reach speeds of 80km/h, was launched in 1955 and soon became a status symbol as well as a common taxi car.

Production of the Sibal was strikingly rudimentary: there was no factory line and engineers had to hammer out the steel themselves. Better-resourced foreign brands were soon making inroads in South Korea and production of the vehicle was halted in 1963, after only 3,000 had been made. The country’s automotive sector has greatly advanced since those early days but it has the Sibal to thank for kick-starting it all in impeccable style.

Finnish furniture house Lepo has teamed up with Helsinki-based interior architects Sistem to launch Martta, a modular sofa series that makes minimalism look inviting rather than austere. The design, presented during Habitare at Sistem’s studio in downtown Helsinki, comes in two- and three-seater versions, with an armchair to follow later this autumn.

Martta’s appeal lies in its versatility: a slender metal frame provides the base for both straight modular units and rounded end sections, allowing for anything from compact set-ups to long, undulating assemblies. “This was about creating something timeless but adaptable,” says Sistem partner Lisa Sund. Better known for behind-the-scenes work on projects such as renovating the Alvar Aalto pavilion in the Finnish capital and public spaces such as the Helsinki University Viikki library, Sistem has here stepped into the limelight. Building on more than seven decades of expertise, Lepo’s Martta shows how Finnish design can balance practicality with quiet character.

Habitare, Finland’s biggest interior and design fair, runs until Sunday 14 September at Helsinki’s Messukeskus. The Martta modular sofa is on display at Aleksanterinkatu 12, Helsinki