Design District
Creative neighborhood of design shops, ateliers and galleries born from a Finnish furniture invention.
This guide to the Design District in Helsinki opens with Alvar Aalto's question in the 1920s: could birch wood curve into furniture without cracking? It follows his partnership with joiner Otto Korhonen, the technique they devised to bend plywood, and the chair Aalto designed for tuberculosis patients at the Paimio Sanatorium, betting that furniture itself could aid their breathing. It traces the founding of Artek in 1935, the company Aalto and his wife Aino built around the idea, whose shop still trades nearby. Look for that plywood curve in shopfronts and furniture displays as you walk through the district today.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.