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Finalists of the Habitare Design Competition 2025 create domestic islands for rest and recovery
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Finalists of the Habitare Design Competition 2025 create domestic islands for rest and recovery

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The three finalists of the Habitare Design Competition 2025, organised by Habitare and Aalto University, have been selected. This year’s theme, Domestic Islands, invited students to design a tangible space for rest, recovery, and creativity within the home. The finalist works will be exhibited at Habitare, held at the Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre from 10 to 14 September 2025. The winner will be announced on the opening day, Wednesday 10 September, by the head judge Studio Kaksikko.

Now in its 21st edition, the competition highlights emerging design and architecture students. The brief challenged participants to rethink what rest truly means—does it require furniture, or could it be something more human and personal?

The jury’s first-round panel included designer and professor Tomek Rygalik, architect and professor Pentti Kareoja, and industrial designer Simo Puintila. The final decision will be made by Studio Kaksikko, the design duo of Salla Luhtasela and Wesley Walters, who will announce the winner on the Habitare main stage at 10:30 on 10 September. The winner will receive a €5,000 grant donated by the Finnish Fair Foundation.

FINALISTIT 2025

1. Gabriela Farias ja Karolin Kull, Aalto University: LOMA

    LOMA (in Finnish: Holiday) reimagines rest and connection through an organic, adaptive environment. Blurring the boundaries between furniture, landscape, and living systems, the design grows into a tactile topography shaped by interactions between fungal mycelium and recycled materials. Its low, undulating form invites spontaneous connection and shared rest, serving as a platform for informal interspecies collaboration.

    2. Rosa Piirainen, LAB Institute of Design: JOLLA

    JOLLA s a cloud-like retreat for recovery—a place to simply be and let thoughts drift. Inspired by the sensation of floating on waves, its gentle motion and reflected light create a calming spatial experience that evolves with the user. The work interprets the theme as a mental state of freedom—freedom from urgency, performance, and forced thought.

    3. Julia Postrzech ja Emma Sjöholm, Aalto University: Rest in (5) Pieces

    This mobile installation focuses on mental rest, drawing from the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique used to balance the nervous system. Composed of five floating elements, the mobile invites interaction with materials like wood, ceramic, textile, and metal. Its subtle forms and colors awaken the senses and guide the user inward, offering a quiet island for reflection and sensory rest.

    More information:  

    Pia Sievinen, communication & brand, Habitare, puh. +358 40 559 9155, pia.sievinen@messukeskus.com

    Accretitation: https://www.messukeskus.com/en/for-media/accreditation/

    Habitare, the leading furniture, design and interior event in the Nordics, will be held at the Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre from 10 to 14 September 2025. | habitare.fi | @habitarefair

    The Finnish Fair Group includes, in addition to Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre, the trade fair organiser Expomark Oy and the AV technology company SVV Oy. In 2024, the Group’s revenue was 58.4 million euros, its economic impact on the surrounding area was 245 million euros, and its employment impact was 3,335 person-years. I Messukeskus. The real social media. I messukeskus.com I @messukeskus 

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