Sauma

The works in the SAUMA exhibition explored new approaches to usability, the users’ experience and the design process. The curators wanted to display new ways to approach different needs of our society. All the exhibited works were based on new concepts or on newly developed applications of recent design concepts.

The Finnish word sauma means a seam, a borderline, and in colloquial usage, a chance. The exhibited works experimented with portability, sensory experiences, and the ways in which we navigate our urban environment.

SAUMA introduced installations and design concepts including new portable devices, an experimental kitchen, an urban sauna, and a game prototype. On view were also a jacket designed to sweep away the loneliness of urban dwellers and a perfume installation evoking memories of certain cities.

The exhibition presented works from Klaus Aalto, COMPANY, Sirpa Fourastié & Susan Elo, Tuija Asta Järvenpää, Pasi Kolhonen, Harri Koskinen, Hilda Kozári, //MUKANA, Samuli Naamanka, Kari Nieminen, Pentagon Design, Kari Sivonen, Ilkka Suppanen, Tuomo Tammenpää & Daniel Blackburn, and Esa Vesmanen.

The exhibition started its US tour from Washington, D.C., where it was presented at the Embassy of Finland gallery in October–November 2005. After its premiere, the show toured in the United States for two years. SAUMA exhibition was curated by Hannu Kähönen and Marko Tandefelt.

Sauma was produced by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York, presented in collaboration with the Finnish Embassy, Washington DC.

The exhibition was supported by the Asko Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Ministry of Education Finland, Kordelin Foundation and the National Council for Design.