Helsinki-Tokyo based design studio Musuta has won a gold lion in Cannes in Design category. Congrats!

The winning piece, called "Urban Abstract", is "a journey across urban space that unfolds in forty, 5 second parts. The journey, in one, two and three dimensions, is a bit like abstract surfing in which the original destination is only reached after a number of seemingly random yet linked detours occur. Points, lines, planes and other abstract elements create a journey through an Urban Abstract." (quote from Musuta)

The piece was shown last November as break bumpers on Finnish TV channel Nelonen.

Check out the video here and set yourself on a laid-back Midsummer mood.  

Still screenshot taken from Musuta's "Urban Abstract" 

It's been really, really busy here at Werklig office, so haven't been able to do the "5+1" post for a couple of weeks. But now we're back in business.

1. "The recipient of the Young Designer of the Year 2010 was published on Tuesday, June 1st. The winners are two designer groups, Imu and Aivan!. The prize exhibition will open to the public on Wednesday 2 June." Read more at Design Forum Finland's website or at WDC2012 website. Congrats!

2. This is not that recent news, as the new site has been up and running for some time, but anyways: nice people at Kokoro&Moi have their new site up and running. Check it out!

3. Also a bit "old news" but always worth mentioning: kaarlekaarle.com. I suppose we haven't blogged Kaarle yet, so it's about time. Good stuff.

4. Now that we're talking about photographs, you may want to relax your mind and just flip through some inspirational pictures and more pictures (apparently there are some explicit pics, too, so you've been properly warned).

5. Pulpmag - "an online publication redefining how food is seen and presented in public".

+ BAP! KAPOW! ZLONK!

Some results from a very interesting Sitra project are now displayed in Work section. Take a look – and if you are interested in city planning and future scenarios, take a look at the Low2No publication itself (in Finnish), too.

We've updated some Saana ja Olli samples and a small case study in our Work section. If you're fluent in Finnish, you may also read this interesting story about Saana ja Olli.

Stay tuned for more stuff!

Established in 2010, the Aalto University is a new university with centuries of experience. The Aalto University was created from the merger of three Finnish universities: The Helsinki School of Economics, Helsinki University of Technology and The University of Art and Design Helsinki.

Werklig is working with Aalto University on assorted projects.

It's Friday - time to check browser history. Some links, people.

1. According to my browsing behaviour one of the most interesting themes this week has been Milan 2010 Fair. Lots and lots of interesting stuff, but it is really hard to pinpoint the best designs and/or ideas - or to even make a decent summary of them. Dezeen's reports are worth checking out. Fast Company has a slide show of new Finnish goodies, too.

2. Now that we are talking about Milan Fair... Artek revealed their new chair, designed by Enzo Mari. According to Artek's press release, "customers will purchase a set of precut pinewood boards, nails and instructions for the chair". Apparently it's more of a concept than an actual chair. It may be noticable that we've seen a lot of these postmodern self-assemblage items recently, actually there was one rather similar chair in Milan called "Fruit Box" by Finnish group Creadesign. Nevertheless, mr. Mari's work and career is indeed worth checking out. If this is the first time you hear about this grand old man, go and google.

3. A new find (at least for me): Moustache. Fun and playful, some items have even echoes of baroque and the 70's - but not tacky. Like!

4. The Most Beautiful Finnish Books of 2009 have been selected. "The title chosen as Book of the Year was Amour unit deux cours - Henry Lönnforsin miniatyyrikokoelma - Henry Lönnfors miniatyrsamling (The Henry Lönnfors Miniature Collection) published by the Turku Art Museum." Good, traditional graphic design. Why not check out the previous awards (via my older blog post).

5. Did you know that the first world exposition was held already in 1851? This year China will host the 2010 Expo in Shanghai, and (naturally) Finland will take part in it, too. "The Finland Pavilion "Kirnu" is surrounded by a lake, appearing to float on the water. It has the slogan "Sharing Inspiration," where ideas can meet and mix. The design draws inspiration from Finnish nature. Elements reinterpreted in the pavilion include the shape of small rocks found on coastal islands, the surface of a fish, reflection on water, framed view of the sky and smell of tar on wood." Doesn't sound very avant-garde at all, but the 3D mockup looks kinda nice in pictures - but I didn't know that there is so much empty white space in Shanghai... and only a handful of people?

+ 1 And last but not least: someone has made calculations about font ink usage. Loving the comments, great professional entertainment. But seriously: if you really are concerned about your company's ink usage, please hire a designer to help solve these kind of problems. 

It's a rainy outside (possibly acid rain, thank you Eyjafjalla) so there's a good reason to stay inside. Here are some Friday links.

1. Vuoden Huiput 2009 (The Best of the Year – The Best in Finnish Advertising and Graphic Design) awards were given yesterday. Due to horrible work load Werklig didn't manage to send any works to be judged and shortlisted, but we'll promise next year will be different! Anyways, check out the 2009 winners from Grafia's website (in Finnish).

2. "The Nation Magazine Cover Archive (NMCA) is a non-commercial 'hobbysite' devoted to helping keep inspirational magazine design alive." Very nice project, I just hope they keep it alive and updated regularly.

3. "Stuff that fails – Because failing is a part of life" (I think this was via Swiss Miss)

4. Weird ephemera that surrounds us at Do Not Disturb. (don't mind about the not-so-cool-looking site itself)

5. More, well, stuff can be found here. Visually very interesting and inspiring, but also makes you think about how much stuff we actually buy, collect, waste and consume.

+ This is already an old story, but it's never too late to tell good stories. A very talented designer Mari Isopahkala has won Lapponia's international jewelry competition with her work titled "Pisara" ("Drop"). Check it out from Lapponia's website or from Mari's own site.

This is part II of 5+1 series. Originally the idea was to gather some sort of mix'n'match selection of (hopefully somehow design-related) links that would be posted on Werklig site every Friday. However, this week we have Easter coming up so I had to do this already on Thursday. Anyways, here goes! 

1. First, some interiors and architecture. Why all public spaces (especially in Finland) are so dull? It's all lame light gray, light green, light yellow and cherry/beech laminate. Why can't they look like the Achievement First Endeavor Middle School in Brooklyn designed by Pentagram? If there's an architect reading our blog, please feel free to comment.
2. House Industries has released a new font called "Eames". Not too bad. Surprisingly I seem to like even the Stencil version, which is odd.
3. This is just great: "Movie Title Stills Collection". You should also check out a documentary about film music on Yle Teema next Sunday (L'Age d'or de la musique de film).
4. The Story of O (in design, people).
5. I bet you didn't know this about banknote patterns.
+ and finally, some zen letterpress stuff here and here. Sit down, watch and enjoy.

Happy Easter!
 

(Picture courtesy of Pentagram) 

Finland’s competitiveness and the well-being of its people depend on deep, broad-ranging changes. Sitra engages in foresight activities and advances these changes in cooperation with other actors. Through programmes and strategic processes, Sitra grasps the challenges that are most crucial for Finland. Sitra is an independent public foundation with a mission to build a successful Finland for tomorrow.

Low2No  – A Sustainable Development Design Competition

"The Low2No competition seeks comprehensive solutions to low/no carbon and energy efficient building solutions. The sustainable development design competition aims at showing that the national and international targets for lowering CO2 emissions and improving energy efficiency can be reached and even outperformed, while producing an economically sustainable and high architectural environment. The competition hopes that it can also help contribute to the cooperation between Finnish and international experts in different fields. The competition also encourages cities and communities to set more ambitious targets in developing new areas and to adopt new business models in planning."

The results of Low2No competition were gathered in a publication – and Werklig was chosen to do the design for it. The competition had some existing design elements in use: the Low2No "logo" (a pie-hart-like symbol) and some basic colours and typographic settings, so these factors needed to be taken into account. The existing elements were then mixed with some new ones, creating an interesting - but at the same time consistent - visual identity for the publication and Low2No competition itself.

The publication contains summaries of five awarded Low2No competition entries. These entries needed to be shown as they firts were presented for the jury (without any modifications). This was a big challenge, as the entries contained a lot of graphic data that had to be fitted in the publication, requiring a lot of reproduction work and layout planning. Also, it required some amounts of research to find proper paper and printing techiques to make the publication  as carbon-free as possible (honouring the competiton theme itself). 

You may take a look at online version of Low2No publication here.

Here are 5+1 casual goodies gathered from the web for your Friday amusement. Surf on!

1. The Museum of Modern Art has acquired the @ symbol. At least that's what they say.
2. A Collection a Day. Very nice.
3. Roel Wouters. Check out the Grip-video for starters.
4. I want one of these. I don't know what for and why, but I do.  If I'd have a dog, I'd want one of these, too.
5. Meanwhile in Japan, Isamu Noguchi has set new cool standards for parks.
+ and as a bonus: something creepy, funny and strange in a blog that has a rude name. 

Have a great weekend!