Made in Helsinki 1700-2012

The Made in Helsinki exhibition presents Helsinki products and manufacturers from the 1700s to the present day.

Master artisans in Helsinki manufactured sofa suites, mirrors, pianos and silver articles for wealthy bourgeois townsfolk. Toward the end of the 1800s, the development of mass production started to introduce everyday amenities and little luxuries for the working class as well.

With factories, design was born. The first steps were taken during the 1930s with the trademarked Heteka steel spring bed, which was the best-known contemporary design product in Helsinki.

When Finnish design became world famous during the 1950s, Helsinki became the design capital of Finland. Companies such as Arabia and Marimekko pushed Finnish design around the world and the internationalisation efforts covered even designer clothes for air hostesses.

Period:
12.6.2012–1.9.2013