October 2011
30 posts
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Record of the month: No SmoKing 7", 1980
The Kasper Stromman Design Blog record of the month is the No SmoKing 7” by “The No SmoKing All Stars”. It was published by the Finnish National Board of Health in 1980.
The idea here is naturally to convince the youngsters how uncool smoking is (the clue is in the name, the band name, and all the track names) by playing them these rad rock tunes. This approach is of course normally...
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Top 5 periodicals of the Helsinki Book Fair
The Helsinki Book Fair is an annual event held at the Helsinki Exhibition Centre. Apart from all the books on display it’s also a great opportunity to stumble across periodicals you probably wouldn’t read normally. Here’s the top 5:
5. Karjala
Who’s it for? Karelia is a former area of Finland of which most parts were ceded to the Soviet Union in 1940. The typical...
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Best of Finnish pizza boxes
Hey you guys, it’s official – the by far most popular pizza topping combination in Finland consists of ham, salami and pineapple.
This was revealed in a survey based on the one million pizzas ordered over five months through pizza portal www.pizza-online.fi. You should also know that this ham-salami-pineapple combo will set you back € 7.48 (nation average).
But did you know that if...
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Three cities, three barbershops
Rauma
Discreet haircuts provided for the gentleman who does not like to advertise the fact that he sometimes have to tame his mane. Entrance tactfully through the back door.
Helsinki
Look, how many times do we have to tell you this is men only, not a friggin’ hairdresser’s? The clue is in the hat. And the word “sir”.
Turku
…and the award for most retro-futuristic...
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Insignificant Helsinki landmarks #3: “Lippakioski”
In the late 1930s Helsinki city architect Gunnar Taucher designed a new type of kiosk. Sure, there had been kiosks before, but Gunnar’s stroke of genius was to add a canopy to the kiosk. Now the customers could buy their filterless cigarettes without getting wet – brilliant!
Fast forward some 70 years. Nineteen of these old kiosks remain, mostly built in the 1940s and 1950s. Everyone...
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Insignificant Helsinki landmarks #2: The...
The Sturenkatu mushroom is a prime example of 1930s functional architecture; the structure was originally built to protect automobile drivers from the elements while filling up their car. Back then the building used to be a Volvo dealership.
What’s interesting though is that there’s an almost identical concrete mushroom in Stockholm’s Stureplan (“a hig-end public square in...
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Insignificant Helsinki landmarks #1: The Konrad...
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. On the other hand, sometimes a bridge will just span some weird backyard of a hospital where nurses can be seen smoking during their breaks – this is the Konrad Reijowaara bridge.
Karl Konrad Reijowaara was some kind of super doctor who...
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Book review: Mennään autolla, 1972
The Kasper Stomman Design Blog book of the month is Mennään autolla (Let’s go by car), by unknown author. No mention of an illustrator either. The only clue we get is “All rights reserved by Froebel-kan Co., Ltd 1972” which seems to be a Japanese publishing house. That’s why we’re going to go ahead and assume this book is originally of Japanese origin.
You can probably tell...
Anonymous asked: Dear Sir, to complete the series I would like you to add TKK (or Wave University, as it is called these days) to the list of Alvar Aalto buildings under renovation.
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Top 3 Alvar Aalto buildings currently under...
Alvar Aalto is a Finnish architect that enjoys godlike status in Finland. These are the Kasper Stromman Design Blog’s top 3 Aalto buildings currently under renovation in Helsinki.
3. Kulttuuritalo (The House of Culture)
Kulttuuritalo is widely considered to be one of Alvar Aaltos’s main works. Originally built for the Communist Party in 1958 it combines a concert hall, office...
Anonymous asked: Hej Kasper, i just lokeed brifly at your blogg. I haw not read it yet but I just looked at the pictures. But i thought you might like to know the the ay they haw the colour on the milk cartriges differ between Gothenburg and Umeå. It is confusing, strange and quit fun. Best regards Jesper
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My fantasy clothing line
When you give birth at Kätilöopisto they give you a hospital gown upon arrival: pink for small, yellow for medium or blue for large. This no doubt saves the nurses several seconds of time when the mother arrives, but also results in this fun effect where the mothers to be are suddenly organized into three different sizes. So now you can go “hey, there goes a medium sized mother” whenever you see...
Radio days
As if once was not enough this week your favourite design authority shall once again speak on the wireless, this time about packaging in general. Do not worry though – this time they are also bringing in a real expert.
Kultakuume is on tomorrow Thursday. And the previously mentioned design authority is me by the way. In case anyone was wondering.
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Top 3 murals of the YLE Radio Building
The YLE Radio Building is a prime example of 70s architecture. It does the job, but doesn’t overindulge in detailing. Come to think of it, it actually looks a lot like Uncle Scrooge’s money bin.
But that’s not to say that the architects of the day didn’t appreciate fine art: it’s just all inside the building. Here’s the top 3 murals:
3. Third floor...
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Postcards from Finland #7
YLE / Iso Paja / Radiokatu 5a / 00024 YLEISRADIO Kuva: Kalevi Rytkölä
If you like us at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog are into colour, design and colour in design you could hear Kasper Stromman himself reflect upon exactly these things tomorrow Monday 10.30 am on Radio Extrem.
Remember: once you’ve heard these nuggets of wisdom they cannot be unheard.
Anonymous asked: Hi, Kasper. Before anyone gets real irritated on the Irish side, either add them to the countries surveyed or redraw the map. Currently, you imply Ireland is part of U.K. I think they aren't. Well, the Ulster part is. Anyways, check it out. :) Otherwise, I enjoyed your systematic approach. Will be curious of Dutch cartons, now...
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The big milk report: colour of packaging versus...
Everyone knows that if you want some nice, regular milk with a fat content of 1.5 % you reach for the blue carton in the supermarket. Right? At least that’s how Finnish cows want – no, demand – their milk to be packaged.
But wait a minute! Should you find yourself in Sweden it’s like the whole world’s gone mad – suddenly mellanmjölk (same fat content) is recognized by...
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Postcards from Finland #6
Suomi–Finland Tornio–Torneå Silta / Bron / A bridge / Brücke
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City of Oulu introduces new mascots
Earlier this week the City of Oulu rolled out their new mascots, “Oula”, “Ouliina” and “Ölövi”. The launch is part of a bigger rebranding of the city, which also includes the slogans “I bicycle Oulu” and “Oulu smarter than ever”.
“It is a good thing the craftmanship that went into the mascots shines through“ says City of Oulu press official Eila Vähäkuopus in a recent statement to Yle , “but...
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Helsinki trams: an overview
1. The Nrl
The Nrl makes up for the majority of all Helsinki trams. Manufactured by Valmet in 1973–1975 and later in 1983–1987 the Nrl is known to be ridiculously reliable – when buses get stuck in piles of snow the Nrl just plows on.
The Nrls only real problem is they were built at at time when wheelchair users or parents with prams were not meant to use public transport, and thus you have to...
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Postcards from Finland #5
Valmet Oy, Helsingin Telakka, Ammattioppilaitos, Helsinki Vuosaari
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Review: Helsinki Baltic Herring Fair
The Helsinki Baltic Herring Fair is a must for everyone who enjoys herring in brine. We at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog may be dry heaving right now, but there must be a lot of herring afficionados out there since this annual event has been organized since 1743.
The basic setup is as follows: a bunch of fishermen arrive to the harbour down by the market place, stay for a week and sell...
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Rubbish bin solutions of Helsinki
The Standard Rubbish Bin
This basic 60 litre waste container can be found literally all over town. It’s made out of durable steel but has one flaw: it’t too small and hence always overflowing. The City of Helsinki will tell you a standard bin was only half the size of this 20 years ago, but that’s not really a solution to the problem.
I mean, just ask the guy on the street:...
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Book review: Kuusankoski
Kuusankoski was published by the city of Kuusankoski in 1974. It is no coincidence that Kuusankoski gained city rights in 1973.
For years Kuusankoski lived up to it’s nickname, “the Paper Capital of Finland”. Then most paper mills of this Paper Capital shut down. But in 1974 this was of course a long way off.
No, in 1974 things were different. This man has just finished manufacturing...
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Postcards from Finland #4
Suomi–Finland Savonlinna–Nyslott Keskussairaala / Centralsjukhuset / Central Hospital / Zentral Krankenhaus
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Anonymous asked: Dear Sir Kasper Stromman, how do you feel about Mariskoolis? Respectfully, Mariskoolihater-89
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Woop! Woop! That's the different uniforms of the...
Poliisi.fi is a great source of information. Not only does it contain useful bits like the general emergency number, but it also has an interesting section on different police uniforms. Scrolling through them one gets the feeling the police station must be one big wardrobe.
Pikeepaita (Polo shirt)
The very foundation on which all the different variations of the police uniform are built on is...
