Greetings from.

MottoWASABI worked together with the City of Helsinki in designing a concept for one of their official gifts - a new compilation consisting of 20th century Finnish classical music and architecture in Helsinki. The idea of the packaging was to reveal one layer after another, so that with every step, the design would change a bit. Salmon color scheme is actually inspired by the specific pinkish color of typical old apartment buildings in downtown Helsinki. The project included the dvd package’s layout and illustrations, a booklet of the buildings, a map and the cd itself.

Nice to see you again, my bird friend.

A few weeks back we had a toast with Minni f. Ronya and celebrated their beautiful Spring/Summer 2012 collection at My o My store in Aleksanterinkatu 36. They had made an installation to the shop window, and guess who we found hanging out in front of Minni Suova’s amazing illustrations? Yes, our old friend, the origami bird from last summer’s video shoot. Haven’t heard anything about the bunny yet, but a rumor says that the famous frog is still traveling somewhere abroad. Good for you, froggy!

Making of / Exhibition Design

Our office does quite a lot of exhibition architecture. We especially loved designing this exhibition because of two things - the subject & the space. The building is a 150-year-old train station that quietly sits next to the busy transport hub of Tikkurila. The subject is, as mentioned in the previous post, the past 10 000 years of Finnish design. 

Before the exhibition space was quite dark and full of things. We wanted first and foremost to strip the room of everything else and let the beautiful window & architecture take its rightful place. There are loads of objects in this exhibition and our solution was to display them in simple boxes lit from below, as if they were jewels in a jewelry shop. The ancient and modern objects are placed side by side with no distinction. The colors used were white & black with accents of light green, the glow of magenta and the copper of the pipes.

We were aiming at a light and gallery-like feel, which - according to the comments we received yesterday - pleased the customer very much. Many thanks to the whole team at Vantaa City Museum!

The exhibition is open until 31st of December 2012. Hertaksentie 1, 01300 Vantaa. Tuesday-Friday 11-18, Saturday-Sunday 11-16. Welcome!

Stone Age / Design.

We have been working on a very cool exhibition about stone-age objects seen purely from the design point of view. The exhibition in Vantaa City Museum compares ancient objects  to modern design classics in a gallery-like setting and points out the obvious similarities through times, especially concerning the functional and aesthetic values. 

As you can see, there’s some hectic building activity going on, and the exhibition will open on Tuesday 8th of May as part of the official World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 program.

Individual.

Swiss fashion brand Individual is organizing a special Spring sale at MW Design Office on Wednesday 16th of May. You’re warmly welcome!

16.5.2012 from 5 p.m.

mottoWASABI Design Office, Laivurinrinne 1 LH 2, 00120 Helsinki, www.mottowasabi.com.

Vappu Feelings.

This is the perfect time to introduce a crazy family of products we designed for Virka’s Dreams in Helsinki project. In the spirit of Miami Vice, the objects are obscenely colorful, strange and cute - just like vappu. 

Today!

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3 = Three

mottoWASABI Design Office’s third birthday. Cheers!

Hanabi / Airport 2 →

Here’s an article about the Art Port exhibition by World Design Capital Helsinki 2012. Hanabi Chair at your service at gate 11.

Wasabi à Paris! →

Catch a glimpse of our exhibition in Paris in the beginning of this French TV channel video clip. There’s also a cool collection of Finnish furniture called 1900 - Modern Historic on display at the Finnish Institute until the 25th of February.

Airport Luxury.

As a part of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 -year, Helsinki-Vantaa Airport launched a concept called Art Port, which consists of multiple galleries in the airport premises. The design gallery’s very first exhibition Sit Down - Seize the Moment presents the new Hanabi Lounge Chair. Relax your feet!

Hanabi / Airport →

Here’s an article about the Sit Down - Seize the Moment exhibition presenting the new Hanabi Lounge Chair.

Best of Stockholm Furniture fair 2012 By Finnish Design Shop - Europe →

Hanabi sofa by Yuki Abe for Vivero was ranked among the best of Stockholm Furniture Fair this year.

Päre / Stockholm

Design: Anna Salonen & Yuki Abe. Vivero stand A33:28 / Stockholm Furniture Fair 7.2.-11.2. Photos: Marco Melander.

Päre / Paris

Acoustic wall panel / magazine rack. Design: Anna Salonen & Yuki Abe. Manufacturer: Vivero Oy. Snoopy’s Home lamp also at the scene.