The end of November is approaching in Helsinki and our urban garden is still green – at least partly. It looks like the poor fava beans are mistaken there’ll be another summer ahead, as they have just started blossoming again. Last year at this time a thick layer of snow was already covering our city.
THE EXTENDED SUMMER
Posted in Community, DIY, Helsinki Beyond Dreams, Participation, Slow, Sustainability, Unfinished City Tagged Helsinki Leave a comment
2 YEARS OF TIME BANKING
Illustration: Sanna Pelliccioni
This week the Helsinki Time Bank celebrates its 2nd birthday. What first began as a circle of neighbours and friends in Kumpula, Helsinki, has quickly grown into an Internet-based network of at least a thousand people.
Posted in Community, DIY, Helsinki Beyond Dreams, New Economies, Participation, Slow Tagged Helsinki Leave a comment
COMING SOON: HELSINKI BEYOND DREAMS
For the past year or so, we have been busy with our forthcoming book.
Titled Helsinki Beyond Dreams, the book is about emerging local cultures and how they make a difference. We’ve invited a culturally varied group of urban activists, theorists and designers to share their views around the theme. We can’t wait to get all the inspiring stories and the rich photography out and published!
The book will be available in the spring 2012. It is also part of the official program of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012. Stay alert, more information will follow.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Posted in Community, Events / Exhibitions, Helsinki Beyond Dreams, News, Participation, Rethinking Design Tagged Helsinki Leave a comment
TWO HUNDRED NEW RESTAURANTS
Photography: Veikko Kähkönen
A wonderfully disgusting odour of fried fat is floating in the air. People are standing in a serpentine line on Eerikinkatu street, downtown Helsinki. A basket filled with greasy delicacies has just come down from the first floor window, tied in a rope. A group of Japanese tourists are looking suspiciously at their paper plates with chocolate-glazed bacon and pie made of Mars chocolate bars.
Posted in Events / Exhibitions, Helsinki Beyond Dreams, Participation, Unfinished City Tagged Helsinki Leave a comment
COOKING UNDER THE SUN
Photography: Johannes Romppanen
Last weekend, we drove our bicycles to Kalasatama to test the Solar Kitchen – an exceptional travelling restaurant concept by Catalan designer Martí Guixe and Finnish chef Antto Melasniemi.
The two visionaries both have a history of experimenting with food – Martí from the designer’s point of view and Antto as a chef of several fine-dining restaurants. Solar cooking offers a whole new way of approaching a restaurant. The texture and taste of the food is different, as the heat radiates from different angles.