the flea market

Hietalahdentori is a very large square at the west end of Bulevardi so basically continue west along Esplanadi to the south of the Swedish Theatre and on almost to the dock. A very large flea market is held here, I think daily. You would have to be up very early to beat  a dealer to a rare early piece of mid-century design but there were good spreads of Iittala so this might be the place to look for a replacement piece for the one you broke years ago to make up the full set and there were quite a few Marimekko dresses and bags if you are looking for second-hand bargains. 

Across the north side of the square is the market hall built in 1903. At the moment this has food stalls with amazing spreads of vegetables, fresh meat and of course fish with bakery and coffee stalls. I believe that these have been moved here temporarily - displacing books and antiques - while the building of another food market is being restored.

Design District Helsinki

Helsinki now has a large and well-established Design District and the city was designated as the World Design Capital for 2012. There is an excellent pocket-sized map of the District available in English. Well, it starts out as pocket sized but unfolds and unfolds and unfolds to show an area more than 10 city blocks by 10 blocks fanning out, mainly to the west and north of the Design Museum. 

Each shop or service is numbered and there are separate groups for interior and design, clothing, antiques and art, jewellery, galleries and museums, food drink and hotels and finally services ... all coded by colour. 

If trying to cover this large area and the 200 or more businesses that make up the District seems daunting then remember that in Finland coffee and cakes are much appreciated so there are plenty of places to have a break as you search the shops and galleries. In fact one place that I will certainly seek out is LoKaL which describes itself as 72% art 28% coffee so it sounds exactly my kind of place.

Marimekko, Artek and Iittala in Helsinki

Perhaps the best place to start, if you want to explore design in Helsinki, is from Esplanadi. This is a long park or garden that runs east to west and that is lined with shops and hotels. The Cathedral and main government buildings are close but with the harbour, where the main Baltic ferries arrive, at the east end of Esplanadi and with the central railway station - designed by Eliel Saarinen - just three blocks to the north, this is often one of the first places visitors to the city explore.

On the north side, at Pohjoisesplanadi 33, is the flagship store of Marimekko. This is on a large corner site, so it has plenty of window display. The shop is set out over two floors and the displays of textiles and clothing inside the shop are amazing. If you need to to take a break, Marimekko have their own cafe - Marikahvila - at the back of the store and that opens out onto the circular atrium of a large up-market shopping arcade.

On the south side of the gardens, immediately opposite Marimekko is the flag-ship store for Artek at Eteläesplanadi 18.

If you can’t make it from one store to the other without a rest then there is an open-air cafe in the middle of the gardens between them.

Just to the east of Marimekko is the Iittala store and opposite that, to the east of Artek is the Savoy Hotel with the restaurant after which Alvar Aalto named the Savoy Vase. The vase is still made by Iittala and much of the interior of the hotel designed by Aalto survives.