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    El Fant Café and Bar celebrates both traditional and contemporary Finnish design

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    Finnish design studio Yatofu collaborated with young and local craftspeople to create El Fant Café and Bar in Helsinki, Finland.

    The cafe and bar comprises three front of house spaces across 70 square metres, including a central bar with two adjoining dining spaces either side.
    El Fant Café and Bar features furniture by Helsinki-based workshop PuutamoYatofu intended to inject the energy of Helsinki’s contemporary design community into Torikorttelit, in Helsinki’s old town, where El Fant is located.
    “Our approach was rooted in celebrating the timeless qualities of Finnish design while infusing it with a contemporary twist,” Yatofu’s founders Angela Lindahl and Yihan Xiang told Dezeen.
    Paja&Bureau created curved galvanised steel shelving for this projectGuests enter into the central bar area featuring a custom galvanised steel bar designed by Yatofu in collaboration with local custom metal workshop Paja&Bureau.

    They designed the bar counter and matching shelving units to “add a touch of industrial modernity to the space”. The steel units bend and curve optimising the flow of the three connected interior spaces.
    Guests enter El Fant into a central bar areaYatofu also closely collaborated with Helsinki-based carpentry workshop Puutamo, led by young female carpenter Eveliina Ylöne, to create solid pine furniture.
    Yatofu purposefully worked with young and local craftspeople on the project, allowing them “to inject the space with fresh perspectives and a genuine connection to the community,” the studio told Dezeen.
    “By working with local craftspeople, we were able to explore new possibilities for local production and celebrate the creativity and innovation that defines the current generation of Finnish craftsmen,” they added.
    The cafe and bar features a pair of Howard Wall lamps by GubiEveliina Ylönen and Yatofu opted for four-centimetre-thick pine boards from northern Finland to create all the custom furniture pieces in the space.
    “Pine was selected for its historical significance in Finnish craftsmanship and its natural characteristics, durability and warmth,” said the studio.
    The interior includes dining chairs from the Finnish brand VaarniiThe result of the collaboration includes a set of stools, benches and tables with both natural and stained finishes.
    “Together, we explored how to maintain the wood’s natural beauty while introducing bold, contemporary design elements such as the saturated tomato-red dye, which added a modern twist to the traditional material,” Yatofu explained.
    The bar table features tomato-red stained finishThe stained finish was applied on a table and chairs set in the bar area, as well as benches in the dining areas.
    Paired with dining chairs from the Finnish brand Vaarnii, the solid pine pieces counterbalance the cool-toned steel.
    The earth-toned plaster walls are hand-finishedThis balance was also formed through the choice of earth-toned plaster walls and polished concrete flooring. As well as a series of warm-hued spotlights and wall lights, including a pair of Howard Wall lamps by Gubi.
    “The juxtaposition of warm natural materials like pine with cooler, industrial elements like galvanised steel was designed to evoke a sense of balance and harmony,” Yatofu explained.
    This balance of materials across the design scheme aims to create an “atmosphere that feels both relaxed and invigorating”.
    The interior balances contemporary and traditional design elementsOther projects featured on Dezeen by Yatofu include a furniture showroom in Hangzhou, China and a refined teahouse interior in Helsinki, Finland.
    The photography is by Aleksi Tikkala.

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      Fyra celebrates bohemian history of Helsinki's Hotel Torni in contemporary revamp

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      Finnish interiors studio Fyra has fostered a “bohemian ambience” in this hotel in Helsinki by layering different styles, colours and historical references within its public spaces.

      Hotel Torni was originally built in 1931 based on designs by architects Jung & Jung, with its 14 storeys making it the tallest building in Finland at the time.
      Fyra has overhauled Hotel Torni’s public spaces including its restaurant OROver the years, it became a base for spies during world war two and a favourite meeting place for artists, journalists and other cultural figures including Finnish composer Jean Sibelius and writers Mika Waltari and Frans Eemil Sillanpää.
      Now, Finnish architecture firm Arco has undertaken a complete renovation of the building for hotel chain Sokotel. Fyra was tasked with overhauling Hotel Torni’s public spaces including its lobby, restaurant and two bars, while local Studio Joanna Laajisto tackled the guest rooms.
      Playful wallpaper and B&B Italia’s Up 50 armchair feature in the lobby”The aim was to create surprising but elegant elements that respect the building’s original architecture and historic values,” said Fyra.

      “Although most of the building’s original art deco features had been removed over the years, the marble walls and floor in the entrance, a grand fireplace in the Cupola Room and a pair of doors in the restaurant were still intact.”
      The Ateljee bar stretches across floors 12 and 13″In our design, we did a modern interpretation of that era,” Fyra told Dezeen. “But we did use some typical features of art deco.”
      This includes coloured ceilings, tubular chrome furniture and graphic floor tiles, as well as bespoke light fixtures with glass orbs in the lobby.
      Reflective surfaces dominate the bar’s interior schemeThe historic Ateljee bar on the 13th floor offers views over Helsinki’s rooftops in four different directions and was originally only accessible via a narrow spiral staircase.
      But as part of the renovation, the bar was extended onto the 12th floor with its two levels connected by an elevator to improve accessibility and expand capacity.
      Fyra’s design team, led by Emma Keränen, Silja Kantokorpi and Eva-Marie Eriksson, furnished the space using reflective surfaces such as stainless steel counters so that the interior would maximise the panoramic views instead of competing with them.

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      Hotel Torni’s restaurant OR is located at street level. Here, the design team layered different styles of furniture, bold colours and artworks to create a “bohemian ambience” that would reflect the building’s history.
      Meanwhile, tubular steel chairs and sofas with upholstered leather seats nod to the building’s 1930s roots.
      The American bar is located under the hotel’s central domeThe American Bar was restored to its original location under the hotel’s central dome. At its heart sits a circular bar counter, atmospherically lit from above, that echoes the shape of the dome.
      For this space, the designers chose a palette of dark green and marble, complemented by lamps from Finnish industrial designer Paavo Tynell.
      Original details such as marble fireplace mantels were retainedFounded in 2010, Fyra specialises in designing work environments, hotels, restaurants and retail spaces such as this stylised bright-pink parcel collection point in Helsinki.
      Last year, the studio was named interior design studio of the year at the Dezeen Awards.
      The photography is by Riikka Kantinkoski.

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      Formafantasma and Artek's Cambio exhibition explores Finnish design's link to forestry

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      Design duo Formafantasma has collaborated with furniture brand Artek to explore the relationship between the timber and design industries in Finland through an exhibition at Helsinki Design Museum.

      Called Cambio: On Finnish Forestry, the exhibition is part of Formafantasma’s wider Cambio project – an ongoing investigation into the global impact of the extraction, production and distribution of wood.
      The exhibition takes place at Helsinki Design MuseumThe duo teamed up with Finnish company Artek to create the show, which features a mixture of work shown in previous Cambio exhibitions in the UK, Italy and Switzerland, as well as new works specific to Finland.
      Featuring original films and installations as well as supporting archival material, On Finnish Forestry examines how the country’s timber industry has evolved over time, with a focus on design.
      Formafantasma created an installation of interlocked Stool 60s”This exhibition clearly links furniture design to a specific biome: forests,” Formafantasma founders Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin told Dezeen.

      “At the end of the day, it isn’t about products but about ideas.”
      An installation made up of stacked 1933 Stool 60 models by the late Artek co-founder Alvar Aalto intends to communicate the iconic product’s lasting legacy by mixing both vintage and recently produced pieces.
      One installation features aerial images capturing tree canopy density over OrivesiThe stools are crafted from silver birch, a tree species commonly found in Finland. Trimarchi and Farresin explained that Artek’s local production habits influenced their desire to collaborate with the furniture brand.
      “The majority of trees used in the production of Artek furniture are from Finnish forests, specifically from an area within a 200-kilometre radius from a sawmill close to Jyväskylä,” explained the designers.
      “We don’t see Artek just as a design company producing beautiful furniture, but as a case study on how to relate production to a specific ecosystem.”
      Under the Yoke includes a postcard of artwork by Eero JärnefeltAnother installation presents wooden boards featuring infrared aerial images of Finland’s Orivesi municipality, which document recent tree canopy cover in its peatlands area.
      Formafantasma overlaid the large-scale images with smaller, historical black-and-white snapshots comparing the habitat in previous years.
      A contemporary model of Aalto’s Screen 100 is also on showUnder the Yoke is an installation comprising a postcard of an 1893 artwork of the same name by Finnish painter Eero Järnefelt that depicts a traditional scene of slash-and-burn agriculture, which is framed by chunky pinewood sourced from contemporary clearcutting.
      Among the work presented in the exhibition, other pieces by Aalto include a 2022 version of his 1936 flexible room divider Screen 100 and deconstructed chair legs featured in an investigation into the designer’s renowned L-leg design for furniture.
      The specific qualities of birch wood was a significant influence on Aalto’s desire to create an alternative to the then-popular metal tubular legs, according to Helsinki Design Museum.

      “It’s not enough to ask designers to be sustainable” says Formafantasma

      Trimarchi and Farresin explained that the exhibition attempts to use different media to unite audiences over the same ideas about the impact of the timber industry.
      “It might sound banal, but what we want is to shift the focus from ‘things’ to ‘context’,” concluded the designers.
      “We would like people to see chairs like pieces of forests and design as the outcome of political decision-making and not exclusively as the fruit of the creativity of a designer.”
      The exhibition also explores Aalto’s renowned L-leg designKnown for an interest in climate change, Formafantasma has completed a number of other projects that explore the environmental impact of design.
      These include the first Cambio show in London, which was commissioned by the Serpentine Gallery. Last year, the duo also redesigned its website to try and reduce “pollution connected to the internet”.
      The photography is by Paavo Lehtonen Photography.

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      Unusual colour combinations make up Durat showroom in Helsinki

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      Finnish interior designer Linda Bergroth has brought together unexpected colour combinations for the Durat showroom in Helsinki, which is filled with the manufacturer’s terrazzo-like surface material made from plastic waste.

      The showroom occupies around 100 square metres of space in central Helsinki on the site of a former coffee shop.
      Durat’s showroom shows off the brand’s surfacing material across multiple displaysDurat’s speckled surface material can be used in sheets or moulded into basically any shape, so the company wanted a showroom that would convey a sense of endless possibilities.
      To this end, Bergroth made almost everything in the store out of Durat surfacing, including three display areas, a wall of colourful samples and a central kitchen-style island.
      Interior designer Linda Bergroth combined unusual coloursThe display areas were designed to show off the material’s different thicknesses, joints and mounts while using a broad selection from the brand’s range of more than 1,000 colours.

      One display features different washbasins, either integrated into a countertop or mounted on top. This area combines tones of turquoise, salmon pink and mustard with a white worktop that looks as if it was topped with a scattering of rainbow sprinkles.
      The displays showcase some of Durat’s different shapes, joints and thicknessesAnother display features a freestanding orange soaking tub set against an apple-green wall. Two shelves line the walls, holding more colourful material samples cut into contrasting shapes to invite play.
      “The showroom is mostly serving architects and designers,” Bergroth told Dezeen. “So it was easy for me to relate to the needs of the customer, who wants to understand the anatomy and possibilities of the material.”
      Material samples are displayed on floating shelves”Many of the decisions were made to communicate these possibilities and not define how someone’s compositions should look,” she continued. “Untypical colour combinations and mismatched patterns are also a way of freeing the user to find new ways of thinking.”
      Bergroth finished the showroom with minimal furnishings and fittings, including matt white Vola faucets she describes as resembling “immaterial cut-outs in the heavily patterned surfaces”.

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      There is also a storage room and a private office area, both concealed behind doors that blend into the display areas.
      The shopfront features big windows in two directions, which Bergroth and Durat used to their advantage by creating a design that could be experienced from the street as much as from the inside.
      An office and storage area are hidden behind doors in the displays”The layout is designed in a way so it can be well explored from the street, also outside office hours,” said Bergroth. “This brings a nice brand visibility and brightens up the neighbourhood during the dark months.”
      Durat surfacing is made from 30 per cent post-industrial plastics and is fully recyclable. The company aims to create a closed-loop material cycle where all Durat surfaces are repurchased at the end of their life and turned into new products.
      Durat surfacing can also be used to form furniture piecesBergroth also worked with the material in some of her previous projects, including the pop-up Zero Waste Bistro she designed for the WantedDesign Manhattan fair.
      Other projects by the interior designer include another Helsinki shop interior for the brand Cover Story, which makes plastic-free paint.

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      Ortraum Architects builds timber music studio beside house in Helsinki

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      Ortraum Architects has built an asymmetric studio called 12 in the garden of a house in Helsinki, Finland, to provide its owners with space to compose music and make ceramics.The structure was commissioned by a couple who wanted an external space to work from home, beside their existing 1960s home in the Jollas neighbourhood.
      It features two contrasting storeys that Ortraum Architects has set askew, giving rise to a sculptural form and two individual workspaces inside for the couple.

      Ortraum Architects’ 12 studio has two storeys set askew
      The 12 studio, which has been shortlisted in the Dezeen Awards in the small workspace interior category, measures 72-square-metres and is complete with a kitchen and bathroom.

      While providing individual studio space for the couple, it is designed to be easily adapted into a guest house or even become a home for the client’s children in the future.

      The studio is in the garden of a house in Helsinki
      “The client couple needed two main spaces, a ceramics workshop and a music-composing studio,” said the studio. “The massing is visually divided into two levels, reflecting the two different building functions,” it continued.
      “The plan also needed to be flexible enough to function additionally as a guest house and future home for one of the two children in the family, so bathroom and kitchen spaces were included.”

      A ceramic studio is on the ground floor
      The material palette of 12 is deliberately pared-back, with its cross-laminated-timber (CLT) structure left exposed internally and externally. On the exterior, this will turn grey with time to help the structure blend in with its surroundings.
      Its entrance is marked by large glass doors that face the existing home, sheltered by a small cantilevered corner of the second floor.

      A hidden black staircase has storage in its treads
      This entrance opens into the ceramics studio on the ground floor, which is complete with a small bathroom.
      A black wooden staircase that leads to the first floor is concealed behind a wall and features treads that double as storage units.

      The building contains a music studio upstairs
      Above, the first floor contains the music studio. Its angular form was developed to help enhance the acoustics of the space and make it suitable for recording music.
      This space is complete with two large windows that open towards a neighbouring forest, alongside a small balcony and gallery level for use as an extra lounge area.

      The music studio has an angular form to enhance its acoustics
      Ortraum Studio’s goal for 12 was for it to “be a best practice example for environmentally friendly construction and infill projects in a suburban context”.

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      For this reason, its size was dictated by an existing concrete foundation from an old garage, avoiding the need for new and obtrusive groundwork, while its structure was prefabricated using CLT to avoid waste and speed up construction time.
      It has also been developed to facilitate natural ventilation and is powered by solar panels and heated using a ground source heat pump of the main home.

      A small balcony looks out to the neighbouring houses
      As part of the project, Ortraum Architects also built a small playhouse for the client’s children, which is also made of CLT and is tied to a pine tree in the garden.
      Named the Birdhouse, it features heart-shaped windows and is modelled on pictures that the children drew of their “dream house”.

      A playhouse sits next to the studio
      Ortraum architects is a small Finnish design studio headed up by architect Martin Lukasczyk. In 2017, it completed a family home in Finland that has a number of child-friendly features including a trapeze, a climbing wall and a hammock.
      Photography is by Marc Goodwin.

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      Aino and Alvar Aalto's Savoy restaurant in Helsinki restored after 80 years

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      Ilse Crawford and her eponymous studio worked with Finnish furniture brand Artek to carry out a sensitive revamp of notable Helsinki restaurant Savoy. Married architects Aino and Alvar Aalto completed the original interiors of Savoy back in 1937, designing the space to reflect their penchant for natural materials and comfy furnishings. However, after more than […] More

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      Finnish granite and pine feature in Helsinki's Nanso shop

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      Studio Joanna Laajisto used local materials to fashion the pared-back interior of this womenswear shop in Helsinki, which has been revamped to compete with online shopping. The shop is one of several Nanso stores that are dotted across Finland. The brand was established in 1921 and, despite having a loyal following, had recently found it […] More