In January 2014 my class was invited to participate in the largest international textile trade fair - Heimtextil - which annually takes place in Frankfurt, Germany. Heimtextil fair is a platform for manufacturers, retailers and designers. We took part in the fair to represent both ourselves and Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (Finland). The project was carried out fully by us, at that time second year textile design students. We focused on creating a stand full of interesting and innovative textile surfaces.

 

Natural events in northern space - our project slogan encapsulates the main theme. We sought and derived inspiration from Finnish nature and the foundation for our project began to build up from some of the mysteries of our surroundings: lichens, mycelium, bryophytes, roots and the cortex of trees. We explored the way time erodes and affects everything around us; how surfaces and shapes modify and rebuild over time.

My part was to handle the general visual concept for our project, mainly as pre-work before setting up the actual fair stand in Frankfurt. My job inculded logo design as well as building up a blog and a Facebook-page. One of the tasks was also to produce graphic material to support our project.

 

To see the project in wider view, check out the following:

 

Time Unseen on Facebook
 

 

 

 

During fall 2013 we prepared ourselves to deliver a unified fair stand. This required real field work - going into the wild. On the Time Unseen blog you can read and see how the journey began and how the end-result formed.

 

Because of being a group of 15 creative people, we felt important to state our own personal interpretation on design questions. Below you can find two examples of photos that introduce and unite us as a team but separate us as designers (photos by Linda Kivi, processing by me).

 

For myself the importance of teamwork is very high, and in this sense I would like to thank my friend Kristiina Niskanen for her big support during the project.

 

 

Our final fair stand got lots of attention. After one semester filled with work, it felt good to finally present it all at the Heimtextil fair. Our team designed lamp shades and different kinds of textile tiles with various shapes and surfaces. In addition some of us also designed a few stuffed figures just to add something fun.
 

Down here you can see a glimpse of my product concept of wall tiles, that are made of 80% recycled materials (photos by Linda Kivi).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks!