Ben Norris spent a year in New York working in the music business before receiving a Fulbright grant to Finland to research postwar arts in Helsinki. He's been in Finland since May 2012, and recently started a copywriting company in Helsinki, The Peddle, to help businesses in Northern Europe with English language materials.

One of the 20th century’s great International Style architects, Alvar Aalto (1898–1976) is renowned for synthesizing the precepts of modernism with expressionist organic forms and natural materials. He is known for his contributions in architecture, furniture, glassware, and textiles. As Aalto is especially revered in his native Finland, one can dine, browse book titles, and see a symphony in spaces of his design—not to mention visit the architect’s former home and studio in Helsinki, Finland.

The work of Studio Puisto Architects builds on the ecological, social and financial aspects of sustainability – combined with esthetics and functionality. Studio Puisto specializes in natural, sustainable choices of material and energy sources. Studio Puisto Architects is located in Helsinki, Finland.

Born in 1967. Masters of Arts, University of Art and Design Helsinki (UIAH), faculty of Interior Architecture and Furniture Design. Highly awarded, merited and exhibited for numerous designs in furniture and lighting. Receiver of Best New Furniture in Europe 2006 and Excellent Design by the Norwegian Design Council. Running his own business since 1996 under the name Suunnittelu- and Muotoilutoimisto Jukka Setälä Oy, he has actively been teaching furniture design at University of Art and Design Helsinki since 1999

Katja Lindroos is a Helsinki-based journalist and producer who wrote "Fine Finnish" for Dwell's April 2011 issue. When she visited the inventive apartment of Susana and Jussi Vento, their daughter Varpu, and their Siamese cat, she remarked, "I shall never again underestimate the power of a Nigella Lawson chocolate cake."

Aino-Maija Metsola attended the University of Arts and Design Helsinki, and is currently a freelance illustrator and designer based in Helsinki, Finland.

“I have been interested in textiles ever since my mother and grandmother taught me to sew and knit when I was small,” says breakout textile designer Aoi Yoshizawa. Born and raised in Japan, Yoshizawa has studied her craft in Sweden, Norway, and Finland, where she is currently finishing her master’s degree at Helsinki’s Aalto University. “For pattern design, I like to work with simple elements and overlay them on top of each other, which gives depth to the textile,” she says. This is especially apparent in her Tokyo pattern, produced by Svensson, that manages to be very graphic and very organic at once. Next from Yoshizawa will be a new series of jacquard upholstery fabrics.

Nathalie Frédérique Lahdenmäki is Helsinki-based ceramicist.

Heikkinen-Komonen Architects is a firm based in Helsinki, Finland.

Tuomas Siitonen is an architect and graphic designer based in Helsinki, Finland. He is formally educated in architecture and graphic design, with experience ranging from concepts to hands-on crafting. Tomas Siitonen Ltd. was founded in 2010. Before launching his own company Tuomas has been working on design projects for institutions, cities, companies and private persons in various companies. He has been a partner at Part., an office specialized in public space and participation (2008-2010), and M41LH2, a workgroup/think-tank (2001-2006). He has also been a proud member of Anteeksi design collective since 2002. Besides these collaborations he has experience of working as an employee: as a project architect for Tuomo Siitonen architects on Studio Widnäs among other projects, as a project architect for Heikkinen-Komonen architects on Villa Frida and as an intern at MetaDesign in Berlin. Tuomas honors smallness, collaboration and flexibility over bigness. To strengthen his own competencies he has a network of collaborators in urban design, landscape design, graphic design and lighting design. In addition to running his company he lectures at the Faculty of Architecture of Aalto University. He has also been invited to give talks and host workshops in Finland and abroad. One of his personal passions and object of love – and sometimes frustration – is the city of Helsinki. Tuomas has been arranging events and parties, planning temporary uses and urban interventions, researching the city on a theoretical level and writing articles in order to make Helsinki more open and enjoyable.

Award-winning Danish design team Busk + Hertzog was founded in 2000 by architect Flemming Busk and textile designer Stephan Hertzog. Together, the duo has produced minimalist furniture that combines bold colors, clean lines, and their Danish design heritage. Their work has been on display at the Royal House of Norway, Museum of Modern Art in New York, Norwegian Embassy in Helsinki, and Carnegie Trust.

Tuomas Uusheimo is a Helsinki based architectural photographer with a master's degree in architecture from Aalto University.

From mikkolaakkonen.com: Mikko Laakkonen was born in Espoo, Finland in 1974. After training as a musical instrument maker he studied design at the Kymenlaakso Polytechnic (Bachelors of Arts degree) and at University of arts and Design Helsinki. (Master of Arts degree) After several years of working at design offices in Finland Mikko founded his own design studio at 2004 in Helsinki. Mikko has participated in several International and local exhibitions including Saunabus exhibitions 2003, Rehti exhibitions at the Milan furniture fair 2005, 2006, 2007 and Helsinki Design Week 2005, 2006, 2007.

Cecilie Manz is a Danish designer who lives and works in Copenhagen. Manz studied at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts – The School of Design and the University of Art and Design in Helsinki before founding her own studio in 1998. Manz designs furniture, glassware, lamps, and other housewares. She believes that every product she designs and every project she is involved with represents a small piece within a big, ongoing story, offering continuity through all of her work. Manz works with many celebrated design brands including Fritz Hansen, B&O, Kähler, Muuto, and others.

Marc Goodwin is an architectural photographer and Doctoral Student at Aalto University, Helsinki. Marc photographs, researches, lectures and writes on the intersection between photography and architecture, with a particular focus on atmosphere as a means of understanding that intersection. Working between Finland, Barcelona, and the United Kingdom, Marc specializes in architecture and interiors, with a focus on the variety of atmospheres the world offers at different times of day and year. Marc prefers to include the lived experience in the built environment, where possible--people, their things and stuff going on at the time of shooting. Marc believes buildings are even more beautiful when filled with life.

Arguably not a new idea in a region that gave the world the flat-pack, Finnish designer Olli Mustikainen is eager to give the proven concept a well-needed upgrade. His Nappi sofa table, exhibited at Milan’s Salone Satellite 2014, is a prime example of the next generation in self-assembly, where quality materials merge with a considerably simplified human effort. “I wanted to create a table which can be assembled and disassembled without tools,” says Mustikainen. The designer, who is set to receive his degree in industrial design at the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences later this year, ascribes his clever “Scandi with a twist” style to the adolescent building of wooden huts in the forests around Lappeenranta, his hometown. Through always exploring how to best utilize the properties of raw materials, Mustikainen is working on a product line for a domestic industrial company, as well as lending his services in 3-D modeling and prototype-making out of his Helsinki-based studio.

Poiat Design is an architecture and design collaboration between three designers: Antti Rouhunkoski, Timo Mikkonen, and March Rodgriguez. The three met while studying at the University of Arts and Design in Helsinki. The three opened Poiat in Helsinki in 2010, focusing on small-scale architectural projects and product and concept design. In all of its endeavors, Poiat strives to a chieve the highest level of quality, enduring aesthetics, and sustainability.

Finland's llmari Tapiovaara (1914-1999) was one of the greatest interior architects and designers of his era. Tapiovaara sought new solutions to improve everyday objects. During his long career Tapiovaara created dozens of iconic objects, many of which are still produced today by Artek. Tapiovaara is especially revered for capturing the essence of Finnish identity. Today the contemporary Tapiovaara Family Collection maintains the timeless heritage of a master of Finnish design. Ilmari Tapiovaara graduated in 1937 as interior architect from the department of furniture design of the Central School of Applied Arts in Helsinki. After graduation he obtained the position of assistant for six months at Le Corbusier’s office in Paris. In 1938 Tapiovaara began work as artistic director and designer at Asko Oy, the largest furniture manufacturer in Finland, and in 1941 he was hired as artistic and commercial director for the furniture company Keravan Puuteollisuus Oy. In 1946–47 Tapiovaara designed, together with his wife, Annikki Tapiovaara, furniture for Domus Academica, the new student housing facility in Helsinki. It was in that project the famous Domus Stacking Chair was designed. Ilmari Tapiovaara was a great admirer of Alvar Aalto’s work, and he wanted to create products based on the same ideological premises. Tapiovaara embraced the principle of social equality of functionalism, and felt that architecture was the starting point of his design work. In addition to dozens of chairs and other furniture—mostly intended for public spaces—Tapiovaara also designed interiors for banks, offices, hotels and showrooms.

Mari Isopahkala is a Helsinki-based freelance designer who was born in 1978. She studied furniture and interior design at the Lahti Institute of Design and graduated with a Master of Arts from the University of Art and Design Helsinki (present-day Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture). She works widely between product, jewelry, furniture, light, exhibition, and interior design. She has won the Nova Nordic Designer of the year 2012 award. Isopahkala belongs to a several design collectives, for example Imu Design and Design Migration. With these collectives and other contemporary design groups Isopahkala has been exhibited with various projects in all over the Europe and United States.

The Finnish designer and glassmaker Anu Penttinen was born in 1974. She graduated from the University of Art and Design Helsinki in 2002. In 2003 Anu founded her own design company, Nounou Design, that specialized in handblown and unique art glass objects.

Moorhouse is a Finnish-English photographer based in Helsinki, Finland. She found it inspiring to photograph Eero Aarnio's home and to meet the man himself, whome she found to be very young at heart. At home, Moorhouse's Bubble chair is best-loved by the cats.

Kauniste was founded in Helsinki's Vallila district in summer of 2008 as a joint effort of young people. We design, manufacture, and market inspirational everyday textiles. Our goal is to create products which can be used and cherished in the daily life for decades to come.

Hyunsun Park has a Masters Degree in Furniture Design from the University of Art & Design Helsinki. Recently Hyunsun has been broadening her range of interests toward Aesthetics in relation to her design principles aiming coherent and persuasive design.

Tiia Ettala is a Finnish architectural and street photographer living in Helsinki. After studying and practicing architecture for a number of years, Tiia turned her pastime of photography into a career and has been professionally photographing since 2007. She has studied and worked in Finland, Spain and Saudi Arabia.

Erja Hirvi is a textile designer who has studied at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki. Erja Hirvi has worked for Marimekko since 1995 with her main focus on designing printed patterns. Her understated and often playful patterns have appeared on fabrics and other interior decoration products, as well as clothing and bags.

Tonfisk Design originates from Finland, a land of 188,000 lakes and with one of the lowest population densities in the world. Having more than a third of its land mass within the Arctic Circle, much of Finland retains a rugged untainted atmosphere. The first products were made in a run down industrial space at Lemuntie (Stinky Road) in Helsinki. In the spring 2000 Tonfisk launched internationally at Ambiente. The small Finnish design company immediately caused a stir among visitors and media and has since been featured extensively in the international press. Tonfisk's WARM tea set combining ceramics and wood became one of the year's trend objects that year reaching design aficionados through prominent interior design shops world wide. Today the company is located in the suburbs of Helsinki, providing a new generation of Finnish design products for a global audience.

Göran Hongell was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1902. The artist and glass designer was one of the pioneers of Finnish glass tradition. Back in the 1930s, Hongell presented a first version of what would become his most famous creation, the handblown glass series Aarne. In 1954, he won the gold medal at the Triennale in Milan with Aarne. The Aarne glass series is produced by Iittala.

Juhana Myllykoski graduated in 2012 as an industrial designer at Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. His design springs from the need and notion to serve as many users as possible. His earlier wide experience of different occupations have influenced his works as well as travelling and interest in different cultures. The aesthetic appearance of products and projects come from the simple forms and the right material selections.

Juhani Pallasmaa, born 1936 in Hämeenlinna. Architect SAFA, Professor of Architecture, University of Technology, Helsinki, Finland. Pallasmaa has been engaged in architectural, product and graphic design and town planning since 1963; currently running his architectural affice of some thirty employees in Helsinki. Formerly State Artist Professor (83-88); Director of the Museum of Finnish Architecture (78- 83); Associate Professor at the Haile Selassie I University, Addis Abeba (72-74); Director of Exhibition Department at the Museum of Finnish Architecture (68-72, 74-83);Rector of the College of Crafts and Design(70-72). Designer of exhibitions of Finnish architecture, planning and visual arts shown abroad in more than thirty countries. Numerous articles and lectures on cultural philosophy, environmental psychology and theory of architecture and arts in various countries. Editor of several books and over thirty exhibition catalogues. Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Member of the CICA International Committee of Architectural Critics, Member of the International Academy of Architecture.

Anna von Schewen was born in Stockholm 1965. She was educated in Stockholm and Helsinki and graduated from University of Art, Craft and Design in Stockholm -95. She started her career working at Pelikan Design studio in Copenhagen. Since -97, von Schewen runs her own design studio in Stockholm, working with architectural projects, exhibition design, furniture- and product-design for producers such as Cbi, Gärsnäs, Pukeberg, Skruf and others.

Pietari Posti was born in Helsinki, Finland, and now lives and works in Barcelona, Spain. After graduating from Lahti Polytechnic BA in Graphic Design (2005) Pietari worked for few months as a graphic designer before moving to Barcelona in late 2005 where he started pursuing his professional illustrator career. Pietari has exhibited in numerous group shows allover the world, including the Now Showing Exhibition- Exploring the Lost "Art" of the Film Poster in Cosh Gallery London (2008) along with other contemporary graphic artist and illustrators. Pietari's work has been featured in the 3x3 Professional Illustration Annual (2007) , PRINT Magazine European Design Annual (2007) and American Illustration 27 & 28. Since 2005 his work has been published internationally in publications like The New York Times, The Guardian, Wired Magazine and Paste Magazine. Pietari´s work has been utilized in advertising, merchandise and apparel such as T-shirts, wallets and furniture.

Annika Rimala studied graphic arts at the Institute of Industrial Arts of Helsinki. Her neighbor noticed Annika's design-eye early on and encouraged her to work at Marimekko. Her first job at Marimekko was in the children’s department in 1959, and within one year her focused attitude led her to a design position in the factory. Eventually Rimala became Marimekko’s chief fashion designer and her innovative ideas led to her reign the design department for over 20 years from 1960 to 1982.

Petra Bindel has been a professionl photographer for over 13 years. She traveled from her home in southern Sweden to Helsinki, Finland to photograph the 660-square-foot- apartment of Susana Vento and her family in "Fine Finnish," appearing in Dwell's April 2011 issue. "We had a few very intense hours shooting the space and Susanna made a lovely lunch," Bindel says. Before she left, Susanna's husband, Jussi gave her a copy of his band's CD to share with her music loving husband.

Born in 1915 in Hanko, Finland, Tapio Wirkkala was one of the country’s most prominent—and most versatile—designers of the 20th century. A sculptor and designer, he gained fame with his glass tableware for Iittala, which included his 1968 Ultima Thule collection, the manufacturing of which took thousands of hours to perfect the glass-blowing technique needed to create the illusion of melting icicles. Wirkkala also left his mark as a graphic designer on the Finnish banknotes and was the artistic director of the University of Arts and Design in Helsinki for many years. He died in 1985.

Jenny Francis is an architect and designer. She has lived and worked in New York, London, Helsinki, Rome, and now Toronto, designing award-winning projects including boutique hotels, homes, leisure properties, offices, restaurants, and cultural institutions for visionary clients. Her approach to design values thoughtful simplicity, pleasure, and craftsmanship. CONTACT: JENNY FRANCIS | B.E.S., MArch, OAA, RAIC 137 Brock Avenue Toronto, ON, M6K 2L5 647.999.0258 jenny@jennyfrancis.ca @JFRANCIS_Design instagram: jennyfrancis_design

My name is Elena Kihlman. I design and produce home textiles, interiors items and handmade bags. I was born in Saint Petersburg in Russia. Since the early 90's, I moved to Finland where I graduated from the Aalto University of Art and Industrial design in Helsinki. In 2006 I moved to Italy, in Rome, where late I was open my design studio and Concept shop of the Nordic design. • Having had the experience of living in various countries my creative work is based and enriched by these three cultures: Russian, Scandinavian and Italian. • Since everyone has different preferences, needs and requirements, I made a point to design and produce a product that can be tailored to meet specific needs. • Other important think, I give big attention to the development of new high quality materials for our products. Often I create my own materials.