Habitare 09 brought for the first time green values to the forefront of the design world. Finland’s largest furniture, interior decoration and design event together with EcoDesign Special Exhibition presented the views of top designers on how ecological values can be taken into account at different stages in the life cycle of products, without compromising on aesthetics and ergonomics.

Professor Yrjö Kukkapuro, an internationally acclaimed designer of furniture, who has also had a great influence on Finnish design, was invited as the curator of the EcoDesign exhibition. He in turn invited top-class international designers and young talents from Finland and abroad to take part. The invited

designers were given free hand to design an ecological chair or some other product designed for sitting.

The problems of sustainable development are challenging designers, manufacturers and consumers alike to consider ecological values and operating methods. A designer is in a key position to influence the operating methods and materials used in the production of products. Ecological thinking brings forth new challenges, but, at the same time, offers completely new opportunities. The EcoDesign exhibition aims to highlight these matters and stimulate discussion. Images of the exhibition are available here.

Aarnio, Eero

Aarti, Erkki 

Aarti, Erkko

Anttila, Tapio

Anttonen, Sari

Asikainen, Kari

Axelsson, Åke

Ban, Shigeru

Borselius, Stefan

Ching-Hsu, Chang

Claesson, Mårten 

Koivisto, Eero 

Rune, Ola

Dahlström, Björn

Damski, Vesa

Falk, Tuula

Fang Hai 

Yrjö Kukkapuro

Godoy, Emiliano

Hakkarainen, Aleksi

Halmetoja, Arto

Harni, Pekka

Heikkilä, Simo

Hiort-Lorezen, Peter

Foersom, Johannes

Hoisko, Timo 

Holmberg, Kaarle

Honkonen, Vesa

Ikäheimo, Anniina

Kankkunen, Matti

Iso-Pärnä, Matti

Jaakkonen, Liisa

Myyryläinen, Raisa

Räsänen, Kati

Helve, Jussi

Järvi, Teemu

Järvisalo, Jouko

Joensuu, Elmo

Kähönen, Hannu

Kanerva, Ari

Karhunen, Teemu

Kermik, Jüri

Kita, Toshiyuki

Kokko, Kimmo

Korpela, Matti

Koskinen, Harri

Kosonen, Markku

Kotilainen, Antti

Kukkapuro, Yrjö

Lahtua-Supply, Anneli

Laine, Tero

Lätti, Juha

Lervik, Alexander

Ludi Architects

Martin, Haldane

Mattson, Fredrik

Merz, Rudi

Mestre, Ana

Mikola, Päivi

Muikku, Mervi

Naamanka, Samuli

Niidome, Naoto

Nivasarkar, Shrikant

Paakkanen, Mikko

Pänkäläinen, Pasi

Patel, Jitan

Räsänen, Raimo

Ripatti, Timo

Ruoho, Heikki

Sairi, Timo

Salli, Timo

SEOS Design

Suppanen, Ilkka

Supply, Marc

Tang, Yong

Taskinen, Ahti

Toussant, Jacques

Tuominen, Terhi

Varjoranta, Kimmo

Virtanen, Kari

Wiherheimo, Yrjö

Woodism: Aarti, Erkki

Woodism: Elo, Susan

Woodism: Hakkarainen, Taru

Woodism: Inki-Ihamäki, Merja

Woodism: Kantonen, Raimo

Woodism: Lithovius, Eeva

Woodism: Paatero, Antti

Woodism: Soini Merita

Woodism: Anttila, Tapio

Xiaojie, Geng

Zhou, Haoming

Zhu, Xiaojie