I visited the Kuopio housing fair (Kuopion asuntomessut) on the opening day. Over all, I must say that the fair was a slight disappointment. I’ve been running and jogging around the fair area regularly during the last couple of years, so I knew a little bit what to expect and not to expect too much. But still, I was left feeling very disappointed. Savon Sanomat wrote today that people are so positive about the fair and nobody has anything to criticize. Well, I don’t agree. The friends with whom I was there and the people with whom I’ve talked about the fair, haven’t been that impressed. For me the fair is boring. I didn’t see anything new, any new innovations whether good or bad, just the same kind of houses and architecture and furniture you see in any contemporary design magazine. Of course, some of the houses are built on stunning locations by the lake and the presence of the Finnish nature is very strong but the houses themselves didn’t really impress me.
I saw a lot of very narrow stairs (impossible for two people to pass each other), strangely large fireplaces dominating living rooms, some rather kitsch interior decorations and a lot of boring ‘safe’ design with the same lamps, same carpets, same sofas, boring kitches…
Two houses I liked the most were this passive house Kusti and this wooden house Aamunsäde.
Kusti:
Aamunsäde:
From the outside this house was more harmonic and balanced than inside.
Here’s some other stuff I liked but don’t remember the exact houses.
An interesting contemporary front but inside was rather…
A nice loft with familiar furniture
An interesting tile made from recycled glass by Lasilinkki
Maija enjoying the chairs by EcoFurn. They might end up in our garden or sauna one day from www.pintanikkarit.fi. 
Off to some house building stuff now… It’s nice to be on holiday- more time for building projects and house cleaning!