Service design

Last but not least, one very important part of the hospitality industry is the service. Finland is not considered to offer high-quality service in general. It has improved a lot in the last few years since we have realised the importance of it. If we compare our selves with for example South-Europe and their service culture, we are way behind. But we can only learn from those who are better than us and therefore we need to put more effort into launching a culture of good and friendly service in all levels. In hotels and restaurants, no matter what type or price range they are. Good service can many times compensate a bad product.

Daycare centre in Espoo

This building was propably one of the first things that came to my mind as I thought of design and buildings. This is actually located in Espoo, which is not far from Helsinki and is part of the World Design Capiptal -area as well. This is a childrens daycare in Tuomarila, Espoo. It was built in 2008 and the idea for the facade came from Lego-bricks. In addition to the appearence of the building, design palyed a very important part of in planning the indoors and functionality of the place. It is after all a daycare and children have different demands than adults. But if all the daycares and schools were this beautiful anf fun, would children be happier?

Trams in Helsinki

My next design item is actually located in Helsinki. As I mentioned earlier, I have a different perspective on design than most of the people. This picture demonstrates how important design is in our lives, even if we dont always see it that way. The trams in Helsinki are mostly new and accessible to all, but that is the outcome of a long and propably difficult planning and designing. In my opinion the trams are quite boring to be honest. I would consider covering them with different types of patterns and designs during our World Design Capital-year. That would bring design into the streets and also add some color in the scenery during autumn.

Fiskars

I am starting my blog with these few articles that are part of our everyday life in Finland. This second design item is the Fiskars scissors. This is just an example, perhaps you are all more familiar with the orange ones, but all the scissors are made to work as perfectly as possible. Most of the people do not even consider these utensils to be design, they are not anything expensive or exceptional. But they make our lives so much easier and that is what design means to me.
Even though Fiskars is not actually situated in Helsinki, it is not that far from there and I would recommend all the tourist interested in design to visit the Fiskars Village and see the beauty of the surroundings and the designs.

Helkama Jopo

Helkama Jopo is a well-known bicycle in Finland and is at the moment considered to be the trendiest way of moving from point A to point B. Especially in Helsinki, all the sights and attractions are situated quite close to each other, so it is way easier to move around with a bike than by taxi. And the reason why I consider it to be "Design" is its good looks of course. It is also designed to be very comfortable as it is a bicycle. It is a "citybike" in the true meaning of the word. If I would have tourists coming to Finland and I needed to show them around town, I would hire few of these and take a trip around the city.