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In Finland, education in the fields of artsand design, which began in 1871 at the Craft School, and strengthened in prestigious Ateneum, has changed shape over the decades, but has always remained a leader in social change.

In 2021 the school has been highly ranked internationally, art and design being sixth in the world and architecture the world's 42nd best in the QS World University Rankings. Our students, researchers and alumni have a wide impact in various areas of society, both nationally and internationally.

‘The world is changing at an unprecedented rate. To keep up with change and respond to it, we need creative problem-solving skills and empathy. The anniversary year offers us an opportunity to stop and look ahead to what kind of world we want to build’, says Dean Tuomas Auvinen.

In the future, better designed living environments, human- and environment-oriented design, sustainable living, creative thinking and reliable, research-based information will play an increasingly central role. Creative practitioners generate sustainable growth, prosperity and new jobs. They also form an even more significant part of the Finnish economy.

Events and a web mag

This year we are celebrating our school and all its fields with a determined look to the future. We celebrate creativity and problem-solving and our entire community – you have been invited!

Our students and researchers are constantly solving complex challenges our society and the world are facing, and offer fresh perspectives and radically creative solutions.

During our anniversary year we will present these solutions at numerous events to which we invite all our friends and collaborators. There are seminars, webinars, lectures and exhibitions available, yet currently online due to restrictions. Find our events here - and add your own event!

Our most impactful content and projects will also be featured on the pages of the new online magazine, which we will launch in the spring.

The visuals of the anniversary year created by students

The visual look of the anniversary year has been created by students of visual communication design Milena Rinne and Hanna-Katri Eskelinen. It was created at the course Experiment: Process, which was supervised by Markus Joutsela, Pekka Piippo and Safa Hovinen. The course had a total of nine different teams, and several strong proposals emerged for the anniversary identity.

"The design language of the selected work combines the new and the old. The colors are fresh and bold, which gives the visuals a distinctive look. The work is interestingly both visually rich and stripped at the same time, and is well suited for the anniversary year,"
says lecturer Markus Joutsela.

Rinne and Eskelinen got acquainted with the school’s history as well as historical visual materials in the Aalto Archive, and interviewed Yrjö Sotamaa and Tapio Vapaasalo, who have had a long influence in the school during the decades. The young designers also pondered what the Latin proverb Pro Arte Utili, “for useful art,” means now and in the future.

‘We thought about what's important in today's design, and we wanted to emphasize the relationship between the individual and the community. We brought together wavy, diverse shapes with simple geometric shapes. The project was a good opportunity to learn about the history of our school.’

The young designers also ideated a ‘friend book’ for the School of Arts, Design and Architecture, which will be distributed in social media in spring and a printed book will be available later this year.

We hope that all friends of our school will share their experiences and memories on the pages of the friend book!

More information:

Pirita Posti, Manager, Corporate Relations, tel. +358 50 3646381, pirita.posti@aalto.fi

Raila Tapio, Manager, donor relations, tel. +358 50 475 9978, raila.tapio@aalto.fi