As you know, I passed through the Helsinki airport about a week ago on my way to and back from Vienna. I’ve been so disappointed to the airport ever since the Finnish Design Shop shut its doors at the airport. The Finnish Design Shop was the only shop having any contemporary Finnish design besides Marimekko. At the moment, there are no proper design shops at the airport. So no Finnish in furniture, clothing, accessories, shoes or anything like that. Ok, you might say that yes, there’s Marimekko and Pentik, but I’m talking more about contemporary, innovative design. Yes, Marimekko does represent that to a certain extent but most of the fabrics are from the 1960s or 1970s and although I do like Marimekko, many of the products are very classic or even retro. So as I spent a few hours at the airport, I was once again rather shocked that firstly, only pieces of design you can spot are classic Danish chairs and Italian lamps, secondly, there are no shops representing solely Finnish design whether furniture, glassware, clothing or accessories, and third, that there are no interesting, reasonably priced places to eat. And this is during the Helsinki Design Capital year???? Somebody, do something!!!! So you cannot find products by Harri Koskinen, Julia Lundsten, Minna Parikka, Lumi Accessories, Jolier… Compared to Copenhagen or even Stockholm, Helsinki airport sucks.

Johanna