The theme of the international Aino & Alvar Aalto Design Colloquium, which was held in Jyväskylä on 14-15 June 2019, was “Design & Peace”. Major issues related to the theme were discussed at the event and participants considered how these issues could serve as tools for thinking about and influencing design with regards to future living and environments.

The two-day workshop was attended by invited experts from a variety of fields, including Marko Ahtisaari, Walter Bettens, matali crasset, Kaarina Gould, Ahmad Humeid, Miryan Ko, Matylda Krzykowski, Heini Lehtinen and Arto Sivonen. Read more about the participants here.

The event also included a panel discussion on the themes of the event. This was open to local residents and can be viewed and listened to here.

The Swedish curator and author Gustaf Kjellin has collected the pearls of Aino & Alvar Aalto Design Colloquium into a publication called Design & Peace. The online version of the publication is available for download here.

A printed version can also be purchased from the Alvar Aalto Foundation’s online shop here.

The three themes raised by the Aino & Alvar Aalto Design Colloquium – Dreams and Utopias, Rituals and symbols of peace and Spaces for peace and peace mediation – will be more extensively explored in the future by the working groups and their members.

Debate and reflection on these themes will thus continue, and the question of how good designing can promote elements of peace and tranquillity in various ways in different environments remains relevant in the future.

Further information:
Alvar Aalto Academy
Programme Manager Nina Heikkonen
Tel. +358 44 500 1257
nina.heikkonen@alvaraalto.fi

Säynätsalo Town Hall (1949-1952). Photos Eino Mäkinen, photo archive of the Alvar Aalto Foundation.