The World Design Capital gala to be organised on Thursday evening in Lahti

Our most important international event for the start of the year, the World Design Capital gala, will be organised on Thursday evening 2 February at Sibelius Hall in Lahti. The gala will bring together both the Finnish and international design communities.

For example, numerous leaders from Icsid, International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, will be attending the event at Sibelius Hall. These will include president Soon-In Lee, board chairman Brandon Gien, senator Peter Zec and secretary general Dilki de Silva.The 600 or so invited guests naturally also include representatives from Finnish design organisations as well as from the business world and the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen and Lahti.

Three prestigious design and architectural awards will be presented during the evening: the World Design Impact Prize, the Alvar Aalto medal and the Estlander award.

WORLD DESIGN IMPACT PRIZE

The World Design Impact Price is a new award which will be presented for the first time this year. The award will be granted by Icsid, International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, to an exceptional industrial design project which will improve quality of life from social, economic, cultural and/or environmental perspectives.

ALVAR AALTO MEDAL

The Alvar Aalto medal is an international architectural award which is presented every five years or so to an architect or architectural agency which has made a significant contribution to the creative architecture industry. The first medal was presented in 1967 to Alvar Aalto.

THE ESTLANDER AWARD

The Estlander award is an award established by Design Forum Finland and presented as a recognition of significant work carried out in the promotion of Finnish design. The award received its name after the association’s founding member, Professor Carl Gustaf Estlander. The award amounts to 5,000 euro and includes a bronze Estlander medal designed by painter Tero Laaksonen. The previous Estlander award was presented to Kirsti Paakkanen in 2000.

THE WINNING ENTRIES TO BE DISPLAYED IN HELSINKI ON FRIDAY

The award winners at the World Design Capital gala will introduce their work during the Day of Architecture and Design on Friday 3 February 2012 at Bio Rex in Helsinki. For further details on the day’s programme, please visit: http://arkiseminar.wordpress.com/