Proposals invited for an object to be sold at Helsinki City Museum shop

Helsinki City Museum is seeking a newly designed everyday object through an open design competition. The object will be sold at the museum’s shop. The competition is open through June 15, 2011.

The object should be related to Helsinki’s history but represent contemporary design. As such it should be linked to Helsinki’s past and present. It should be suitable for the museum shop’s product range. It should be aesthetically of high quality, usable in everyday situations, and suitable for mass production. 

The object will be available at the shop by the opening of the Made in Helsinki 1700-2012 exhibition, which will open at the Hakasalmi Villa City Museum branch on June 12, 2012.  

The competition will be open to individuals and teams. The proposals should present the design concept, the materials used, and the intended application. The proposals can be submitted as conceptual drawings in scale. They should include a written description no longer than one A4 sized page.

The chair of the competition jury is Tiina Merisalo, Director of Helsinki City Museum, and the other jury members are Kari Korkman, Director, Helsinki Design Week, and Minna Sarantola-Weiss, Research Manager, City Museum. The winner is announced at the Helsinki Book Fair on Friday, October 28, 2011. The prize is €1,500.

Made in Helsinki 1700-2012 will present the historical origins of Helsinki handicraft and design. The exhibition will celebrate Helsinki’s World Design Capital year and Helsinki’s bicentennial, which coincide in 2012. The exhibits will display skillfully crafted works by artisans and everyday industrial products from the last 300 years. The City Museum wants the new product to fit into this tradition.

Entries to the competition should be addressed to Päivi Makkonen, Helsinki City Museum, Sofiankatu 4, P.O. Box 4300, FI-00099 City of Helsinki, Finland, delivered no later than 16:00 (4 PM) on June 15, 2011. Entries can also be emailed to Päivi Makkonen at paivi.makkonen@hel.fi (maximum message size is 2 MB). The entries should include the designer’s full contact information.

For further information, contact Päivi Makkonen by email.

Helsinki City Museum has published some material on the Internet to serve as a source of inspiration for the designers (the accompanying text is in Finnish). The pictures included come from the museum’s collections.