Recently in Finland Category

Helsinki's Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art is named after a medical term for a crossing point of optic nerves. It lives up to this unusual moniker with an amazingly diverse collection of art that draws from all aspects of Finnish society, finding commonality in form and beauty. The museum houses the contemporary collection of the Finnish National Gallery, with over 9,000 pieces of art representing the cutting edge of beauty and design in this Scandinavian style capital. The permanent collection is a veritable who's who of 20th and 21st century Finnish art, with work from masters such as Markus Heikkerö and Elina Hakaniemi. The building itself is a modern art masterpiece. Designed by American architect Steven Holl, it resembles a curved metallic wave washing over downtown Helsinki, and while it caused quite a stir when it was unveiled in 1998, it's now the pride of the city. The museum is just minutes from the Hotel Kämp, Helsinki, a member of Starwood's Luxury Collection.

[image via floornature.de]

Very few places celebrate design with as much enthusiasm as the Scandinavians. As the birthplace of some of the most iconic furniture and houseware designs of the twentieth century, this Nordic conglomerate of breathtaking countries has every reason to rejoice. Finland's ultra-cool capital Helsinki, features an entire neighborhood devoted to regional fashions, objects for the home, accessories, art, antiques, and even museums and restaurants where design takes center stage. Known as Design District Helsinki, the region is a network of 25 streets brimming with 170 distinctive boutiques, galleries, and cafes.

Step outside the door of the fabulous Hotel Kamp, and you're immediately in the midst of it all. Marimekko, Aarikka, Vuokko, and Iitalla, four of the most revered names in Finnish design, are right there on the very same street. Just across Esplanade Park, Alvar Aalto's modernist armchairs, tea trolleys, and hanging lamps fill the Artek Store, which leads toward Uudenmaankatu, where you'll find the highest concentration of shops. Try IVANAhelsinki for darling frocks plastered with animal prints, or the elegant pearl and gold creations of Anna Heino Jewellery. With so many options for great local design, I just can't decide on a favorite. Who's your favorite Finnish designer?

Over the past hundred years, Finland has emerged as a world capital of design, creating furniture, toys, electronics, clothing, jewelry, and household items that embody the country's uniquely modern sensibilities. An excellent overview of the style can be found at the Helsinki Design Museum, which has more than 35,000 objects that represent the best of 20th and 21st century Finnish design. The Finnish aesthetic is captured perfectly in everyday objects such as a 1941 Paavo Tynell table lamp, a 1951 set of colorful stacking glasses from Saara Hopea, and a 1965 Haimi Karuselli chair (pictured) by legendary Finnish furniture designer Yrjö Kukkapuro. While many of the pieces in the museum have a decidedly futuristic quality to them, you'll find several that provide a glimpse of the style's roots in the national Romantic Movement of late 1800's and early 1900's, which made people take a second look at the country's growing industrial landscape and think about ways to make it more pleasing to the eye. The museum is less than one kilometer away from the Hotel Kämp, a member of Starwood's Luxury Collection and itself an example of exquisite Finnish design.

Helsinki, home of the Hotel Kamp, is a beautiful city. It's also one that is ahead of the tourism curve. The local tourist authority is offering the services of free personzlied tours by English-speaking guides called City Sherpas. Guests are invited to choose a City Sherpa they feel is right for them (they range in age from their twenties to their sixties and offer specialites as diverse as punk-rock record shopping, long distance hiking and ballroom dancing advice. Helsinki even offers a City Sherpa blog with testimonials from visitors, local information and plenty of pictures.

Helsinki is a gorgeous, walkable city with hundreds of sidewalk cafes, beautiful summer weather and a hotspot for experimental architecture. Oh... and at this time of year, it's sunny 20 hours a day. All of these are good enough reasons for the New York Times to report on Helsinki's Shining Season without resorting to the usual cliches of tall blondes, Nokia and vodka. Yes the Helsinki trip more often than not requires the dreaded Frankfurt transfer, if flying from the Americas or the UK. However, it is one heck of a place, if just for the emerging gastropub scene alone. The Times recommends staying at the Hotel Kämp (pictured), a Luxury Collection hotel that they call "the obvious first choice, if you can afford it."

Oh, Finland: Winters of perpetual darkness, summers of perpetual sun, saunas followed by dips in the ocean, copious (expensive) vodka and a nation benevolently ruled by the Nokia cartel. We love thee. The Washington Post recently did a travel issue of their Sunday magazine and sent reporter Bill Thomas over to Helsinki and environs for a look at winter in Finland that includes ferry boats that double as ice-breakers, Finnish spas, ice fishing, outdoor endurance training in 2’ of snow, Finnish baseball and plenty of sisu. Down in Helsinki, the Hotel Kamp is a member of Starwood’s Luxury Collection and one of the city’s most luxurious hotels. In fact, they were named the Luxury Collection 2005 Hotel of the Year. The 179 room hotel was built in 1889 during the Czarist era but was newly renovated (in fact, renovations will be wrapping up by June) and features all the conveniences of a top luxury hotel, including electrical outlets that automatically convert to US or UK format. Personally, we like the Mannerheim Suite.