Design Tours' Shops
During our City Design Tour of 4 hours, we will visit some of our main fashion/design shops in the center listed below as well as little handicraft shops and finnish wellknown brands or Design District labelled little boutiques.
Helsinki was elected World Design Capital in 2012 and that's for the large amount and range of finnish design and art that we can find in our City.
Our main tour will lead as from the Market Square through the oldest street of the Helsinki City Museum called Sofia's Street, after a short pop-in in the City Hall or Bryggeri's beer restaurant, we'll reach the Senate Square for a photo stop and enter an ancient merchant's home known as Kiseleff's House.Here we'll first get acquainted with recycling design fashion products in Seija Luukkala's store, Globe Hope.Opposite we'll find the Marttini Shop with design knifes from Rovaniemi Lappland made in different woods and renhorns.Then let's go to the Sauna Market to tasteand smell different essencesof tar, birtch or pinetrea oils used in our traditionnal finnish sauna.Next stop will take place in Lumi Design District registered shop. Lumi means snow and it's a leather bag and shoes store, where you can find modern shoe-designs of Santa's top-curved boot!
Let's walk then to the Esplanade, our city's "Champs-Elysées" with its greatest brands and visit our glass design brand in Iittala Shop.Just chill a bit admiring thetechnics of blowing glass with a cup of coffee served in Taika, the Magic of our finnish forest, design cups. Then continue to our most famous first clothes'brand design Marimekko Shop,which is nowadays a design house celebrated worldwide for its original prints and colours.On our way, as we have been acquainted with the Moomins, our finnish family of trolls created by the writer and graphic artist Tove Jansson, we can drop to the Academic Library of our main department store Stockmann, to purchase a Moomi Storybook to read to our children or grandchildren back home.Coming back to the market place, we can drop by Artek finnish furniture design store or Vallila home interior design textiles' shop.
Of course during this tour, we won't be left without drinking or eating on the go at the open market or inside the Wanha Kauppahalli market, where we can taste some reindeer or elk as well as different salt marinated or smoked salmons!
