Rovaniemi hosts Arctic Design Week in March 18-24

The Arctic Design Week will take place in Rovaniemi from March 18–24 to bring together professionals from fields of business and design and to promote design from the Arctic regions to show the role that design play in people’s lives.

The City of Rovaniemi, the Rovaniemi Regional Development Agency, the Faculty of Art and Design of the University of Lapland and a wide variety of local business partners are holding the week this year, with the theme “Design for Happiness.”

There will be a wide-range of events on each day. The week is divided into three sections based on the intended audience: Student Days, March 18-19; Business Days (March 20-22); and Family Days (23-24), the organizers said.

Events will be held across the city, including at the University of Lapland, the Korundi Culture House, the Lordi Square in the city center as well as a variety of businesses throughout the city.

There will also be numerous deals on local products at a number of local shops and restaurants.

The events include design talks, workshops, design exhibitions, pop-up design shops and a movie night, culminating with one of the main events the Arctic Design Conference, which is aimed at business and design professionals, scheduled for March 21–22.

The first day of the conference is free and will be in English. The second day will be in Finnish and will require tickets. The location for programs of both days is the Korundi Culture House.

The organizers want to emphasize that the Arctic Design Week as a whole is not only for business and design professionals. The majority of the events are aimed at everyone.

“This year, we wanted to eliminate the stigma that the Arctic Design Week is only for ‘designers’. We all encounter design on a daily basis and I think that the Arctic Design Week is a platform for everyone to celebrate the designs of the Arctic that make our lives more enjoyable,” Anna Filppa, Producer of the Arctic Design Week, told Daily Finland.

She also said that this year, the organizers had added more free events. “With 56 events, we think 4,000–8,000 people will come to the Arctic Design Week… We have a few new events that are free and open to the public. It may, therefore, attract more people.”

Filppa said, “We have our daily highlights. So every day, we have a different event highlighted — University Exhibition opening on Monday, Movie Night at Cafe Koti on Tuesday, Keskiviikko Karnevaali (Wednesday Carnival in the Lordi Square) on Wednesday, the Arctic Design Conference and Matchmaking Award Night on Thursday, the Arctic Design Conference and the Reindeer Sprint Race on Friday, Lasten Design Lauantai on Saturday and Brunch at Woodss Café on Sunday.”

Full details and the week’s schedule are online at Arctic Design Week