Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2012 | Page 56

Shaping the Future
Rooted in design, the Lahti region keeps aiming high
One of the World Design Capital 2012 partner
cities is Lahti. As other participating cities are all
located in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, the
inclusion of Lahti has raised some eyebrows –
why is Lahti a part of WDC2012?

F

or those in the know, this is very much
a no-brainer. No other city in Finland
can claim such a strong legacy in design. The foundation was laid already in the
1950’s with the emergence of world-class
furniture industry and has continued strong
to this day. Lahti is clearly the centre of the
Finnish furniture industry, with approximately half of the employees in the entire
sector working in the region.
“We have a strong tradition of industrial design in the Lahti region and have enjoyed consistent success in this area,” says
Essi Alaluukas, Managing Director of Lahti
Regional Development Company LAKES.
What the City of Lahti wants to do
now is to expand the scope even further by
bringing design focus to areas where design approach has been lacking. To speed
things along, a couple of years ago the City
composed Lahti Design Manual in order to
pool together resources and create fresh cityscape.
“From the citizens’ point of view, there
is need for design that is strong on user experience in everyday life – and this is something we very much want to promote.”

vember 2009. The Lahti-based foundation
supports design-related research, education
and development in Finland with special focus on SMEs.
One of the founding members of Finnish Design Foundation is the Lahti-based
Kemppi, one of the leading welding technology companies in the world. Anssi Rantasalo, CEO of Kemppi, says that the Foundation is significant in the sense that it supports also smaller companies who do not
have access to big resources.
“There are plenty of opportunities in
the entire process, starting with material selection. Design is, after all, about so many
things all at once: there are issues ranging
from usability to ergonomic considerations
and visual aspects,” Rantasalo says.
Anssi Rantasalo is also a member of
the WDC 2012 Committee. Through his involvement in the Committee, Rantasalo has
become even more convinced that the participation of Lahti is a key element of the
entire project:
“With its industrial design excellence,
Lahti really brings a lot of substance to the
WDC2012,” he says.

Driving the Industry

Form & Function

Academically speaking, the anchor for design excellence in Lahti is the esteemed Institute of Design, today a part of Lahti University of Applied Sciences.
The newest player in the field is Finnish Design Foundation, established in No-

Rantasalo’s own company is a fine example
of holistic design approach. In its over 60
years of operation, Kemppi has introduced
many new innovations to the market, pioneering the development of both welding
technology and productive welding solu-

54 Nordicum

Essi Alaluukas, Managing Director of
Lahti Regional Development Company.
tions. The co \[