Helsinki Design Week

Founded in 2005, Helsinki Design Week is the largest design festival in the Nordic countries. Held annually in September, the multidisciplinary festival presents design from a number of fields as well as fashion, architecture and urban culture.

Helsinki Design Week presents the new faces and phenomena of design, promotes design internationally in collaboration with various partners and offers city citizens through design a forum to participate in developing and discussing the city and its culture. The festival programme contains around 250 events every year, and includes both events targeted for professionals and the general public.

The Helsinki Design Week main events are produced by Helsinki Design Week and its main partners. The Helsinki Design Week programme is produced in cooperation with national and international stakeholders and an extensive event-planning network. The programme is completed with selected events from an open call for programme entries. In 2016 the festival boasted about 161,000 visitors.

The festival programme takes place in a variety of event spaces spread throughout the city: from museums to markets, from seminar halls to secret shops. The festival also actively seeks new spaces and ways to explore the city.