"A powerful feat of strength of collaboration"

from Mikko Kalhama, Design Forum Finland

27.10.2010 10:05

"The Hirameki Design x Finland project would have never grown to such incredible proportions as it is today without the strong connection that has existed between Finnish and Japanese design for decades. This connection has influenced our Nordic country from across the world and I believe we, too, have managed to touch the Japanese mentality. The connection is visible not only in the mutually similar way the two geographically very distant cultures view the physical reality but also in the powerful and determined cooperation between these two countries.

"The Hirameki Design x Finland generated precisely from the visionary collaboration so typical of the designers and design organisations of these two countries. The Hirameki Design x Finland might be the largest presentation of Finnish design of all times. The prerequisites for the birth of the presentation generated from a wide base in Tokyo.

"Therefore, I would like to thank the Japanese as well as the Finnish counterparts for this exceptional and powerful investment. Moreover, I am very grateful to our collaborators in Japan, the Living Design Center Ozone and the Finnish Institute in Japan. This unique project has required flexibility and open-mindedness - the sort of explorer mentality that enables the discovery of new methods of action and, in particular, perception."

Mikko Kalhama
CEO, Design Forum Finland