Finnish Appartment Living - Part 6 - by Therese
Mood:  happy
Topic: Places in Helsinki
In London, everyone is looking for a garden which is not overlooked. In Finland, everyone wants a balcony, even though it is so cold most of the year you can't really use a balcony.

A Finnish woman said she needed a balcony to get her baby to sleep. It's a Finnish tradition to rug your baby up, put them in a pram and then put the pram on the balcony in -5C.

Makes them sleep better they reckon. Indeed, the Ministry of Labour guide to Having Children in Finland! says (page 24):

"Irrespective of the season, many children have their evening naps outside in prams. Many babies sleep better outdoors in the fresh air than in the bedroom.

Sleeping outdoors is not dangerous for a baby. One may gradually start going outdoors when the baby is two weeks old".

Balconies and big windows also extend the living space. Because there ain't much living space inside. Finnish apartments are small. Its that heating thing.

Finland is well known for having good design. I don't think small apartments and good design is a coincidence. I also don't think modest incomes and good design is a coincidence.

I have a provocative theory. The way to encourage good design is to buy less and live in smaller apartments. There's a deliberateness and a discipline that comes with living in a small space, with having limited resources.

There's no-where to hide impulse buys. You can't afford mistakes. You have one sideboard. One sofa.! One vase. You have to make it count. You have to be sure.

Finland design is not suites, its special pieces. Like Alvar Aalto's armchair and curvy wavy glass vase and Hackman's Sarpaneva cast iron pot, all still in production more than 50 years after they were first designed.

And more recently, Colmio's woodpecker rocking chair and TonFisk Design's tea set, a ceramic tea pot with a thin birch wood wrap and aged cork lid, with matching cups.

Finland design is attention to detail. Marimekko pattern paper serviettes. Iitala coloured glass tea light holders.

Finland design ain't cheap. But you are only buying it once. Iitala's website slogan is "everyday design against throwaway";

Last week was Habitare

Finland's answer to the Sydney Home Show. We spent Sunday going through the home furniture area. Lots of wood, birch, beech, pine. Clean lines and simple sharp angles. Low to the floor, long rectangle sideboards with discreet wooden handles. Solid, thick and sturdy bookcases. Smooth dining tables showing the deep grain of the wood. Low slab coffee tables.

There were several carpenter studios exhibiting their handcrafted pieces. Like Design Element, low! blond wood sideboard with hand-inlaid black wood or criss-crossing wood grains (4200 euros), handcarved wave curved edge dining table (10,000 euros) or 3 wooden boxes with hand-inlaid contrasting wood, stacked on top of each other (18,000 euros, yes, 18,000 euros).


Habitare also had a wide selection of designer light fittings. Like Nolla Nolla two twists or three twists of thin birch lamps and low-hanging dining lights or Secto Design birch slat tubes.

Finns aren't afraid to invest in expensive light fittings because you can take them with you when you move; Finnish apartments don't come with light fittings. Which makes it interesting if you move in winter - you have to install the lights in the 2 hou! rs of daylight or get a friendly person to hold a torch while you connect all the different coloured wires.

And of course Habitare has coat-racks, a staple of every Finnish home - you have to put your jacket, scarf and mittens somewhere handy. How innovative, how interesting can a coat-rack be? Glad you asked - check out Formverk and Inno.

If you are looking for a really special hand-crafted piece you can drive out to Fiskars. Fiskars is where Fiskars orange-handled knives, scissors and axes come from. Today, Fiskars is also an arts and crafts village with glass-blowers, blacksmith forges and little design shops. My favourite is Nanna Bayer's paper-thin coffee cups that look like a cross between porcelein and papier mache.

But the great irony of Finnish apartments? No-one is ever home. My apartment block is a ghost town.

During the week Finns are working - Finns have a labour participation rate of around 66.5% (August 2005), and that includes women - women's participation rate is around 63% with an average of around 80% for women who are 35-55.

Or they are at university - a fair whack of the economically inactive are students (around a quarter in August 2005).

Weekends? In autumn they're berrypicking or mushroom hunting. In winter they're out cross-country skiing or ice-fishing. In summer they're cycling or Nordic walking or at the summer cottage! They may get naked with you. They may have great coffee cups. But don't hold your breath to be invited over Tuesday morning for coffee.