VAANA

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Habitare, kohta nähdään!

Elokuu alkaa vaihtumaan jo syyskuun puolelle, mikä tarkoittaa Suomen suurimman huonekalu-, sisustus- ja designtapahtuman, Habitaren olevan aivan nurkan takana. 

Vaana-osastomme tullaan näkemään Habitaressa 13.-17.9. ja osastomme puolesta luvassa on interaktiivisia elämyksiä designin sekä huonekalujen muodossa. Vaana on ammentanut inspiraatiota Suomen luonnosta sekä kaamoksen suomista pienistä, mutta kaikista kirkkaimmista iloista. 

Osastollamme pääset kokemaan miten ihminen voi kehollaan ja liikkeillään keskustella teknologian kanssa, ilman virtanappeja. Teknologia häviää jokapäiväisiin käyttöesineisiin, ja muuttuu samalla ystävällisemmäksi ihmisille sekä luonnolle. Tule siis kokemaan sammalpeitteen pehmeys, kokemaan valonpilkahdusten hurmos ja näkemään miten tulevaisuudessa pystymme helpommin ja tehokkaammin hyödyntämään uusiutuvaa energiaa. Tarkemmin pääset tutustumaan tuotteisiimme etukäteen täältä.

Habitaressa nähdään!

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Hyvää kesää kaikille!

Vaana wishes a very sunny and relaxing summer for everyone! See you next time on 13th of September in Habitare, Helsinki’s furniture, design and interior decoration event :)

[vaana2017-blog]

Greetings from Milan!

During the weekend, our team arrived to Milan and on Wednesday, Vaana celebrated with the world in the opening ceremony of Ventura Lambrate. The evening was a calm and a warm spring evening and the air was full of excitement and smiles. We brought some of Finlands favorite flavors for our guest to taste. Everyone loved Arctic Warrior’s natural energy shots, but for some reason our local black salty licorice was not everyones piece of cake.

The visitors were illuminated by the exhibitions interactive design and this has been a great star for Vaana’s ongoing journey.

We would like to thank all who have visited us so far and would like to welcome everyone to come and see us this week!

[vaana2017-blog]

Arctic Design Week – the first appearance!

The interactive Ice Rug got its inspiration from the cracking of ice. It is made of pure wool felt and it reacts to touch by creating light paths all around the rug. The visitors at the opening party were clearly excited to be able to touch and try the rug and its interactivity. And that’s really what we are aiming for: to create new experiences and to tell things about the Arctic and its wonders!

The first appearance for our Vaana 2017 Interactive exhibition was at the Arctic Design Week here in Rovaniemi, Finland. We were a part of the Taival – Journey exhibition in Arktikum, which presented the work of the students and alumnae of the Faculty of Arts and Design at the University of Lapland.

The opening party of the exhibition took place in February 20th. The house was full and people clearly enjoyed the evening. We got to test our prototypes in real action during the opening party and during the exhibition, so we were excited too! At this stage we got three prototypes ready to be admired: the Ice Rug, the Breaking of the Dawn jacket and the Frozen Table.

The Breaking of the Dawn jacket is a wearable computing design concept that combines user interaction, clothing design and high-end technology solutions. Besides that, it’s also a beautiful piece of clothing and the visitors were marveling it throughout the evening. Also the Frozen Table was admired: beautiful and exact woodwork combined with lights and transparent surfaces is something you won’t see every day.

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A closer look

What is Vaana exactly? Our group wanted to show a side of Lapland that is different from Santa Claus and reindeers. Winters are long and freezing and short summers can be quite chilly. During the darkest time of the year the daylight lasts for only 2 hours and during summer the sun doesn't set at all. We live in a absurd environment where everything can’t survive.

 But when you look closely, life here is extremely beautiful; the restless and yet calm nightless nights during summer and the multicolored bright fall days. During silent polar nights our whole world is sleeping under a blanket of snow and spring is filled with sunlight and the noise of multiple small brooks rushing to wake everyone up. Life here is a constant journey. Nature is in a state of constant transformation, already in the current season but still en route to the next.

 Nature is something that we could not live without. Nature, forest and wood is what we have used originally when creating our infrastructure, culture and identity. Wood, traditional Finnish construction material is insulating and thus protective from the coldness. It is typically sculpted into stiff and rigid forms, when the actual source, forest, is ignored in design. Trees, before sculpting, remind us of the nature’s impact on our surroundings. Polar night makes our surroundings seem scarce, but the trees and rich forests illustrate our unlit landscape. The trees have been the source of inspiration to the Lappish people for thousands of years.

 These are the key elements that inspired us in the beginning of Vaana’s journey. Our rigid seasons and nature are an endless source of inspiration for us and through technology we can show a little piece of it to the world. In the furniture exhibitions Vaana will present interactive furniture and decoration trough minimalistic, Lappish design. The Naked Project and a variety of talented design students from University of Lapland are currently helping us bring this message to you. Trough interactive means we can present the beauty of 8 seasons to the world.

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We ready. 

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Vaana - the arctic scarcity embodied

Vaana means scarcity in the Northern Sámi language. The word is a good description of the minimalistic and arctic habitat that surrounds us. Vaana was the thing that brought the diverse Vaana group together in one of the first group meetings. All of the students come from different programmes in the Faculty of Arts in the University of Lapland.

We want to use design as a medium to share our experience and view on the Arctic. In the heart of cold Lapland many of us might forget how marvelous it is to live through the 8 different seasons each year. Life might feel brutal, dark and scary during the long lasting, sunless polar night. It is during this time when small glimpses of light are existential - they remind us of the returning lightness and empower us. During the polar night the scarcity of nature is emphasized due to lack of sunlight. Sun rises for a few moments, if at all, during the day. Colors and lights emphasize when there is little natural light that surround us.  The polar night makes us wind down and enjoy the moment we are living in, as if time would go slower.

The journey for exhibiting Univeristy of Lapland’s speciality, arctic design, at Ventura Lambrate in Milan and in Habitare furniture fair in Helsinki, was started by this sensation of the northern scarcity and seasonality. The project has enlarged through the process, getting more and more input from talented designers at our universty. At the fairs in Milan and Helsinki visitors will see student works alongside our fair exhibition itself. Vaana is made in cooperation with Naked Approach as well as other collaborators. Join us in following how our perception of the arctic is experienced by many others!