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News • Helsinki • Finland • 2012-08-17

Kellohalli at the Abattoir to open on 1 September 2012

The World Capital of Design Helsinki 2012’s mainstage for food and design will open on 1 September 2012. Kellohalli is located at the Abattoir next to Kalasatama and Sörnäinen in Helsinki. Kellohalli will house World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 programme until the end of the year.

“Food and design are closely connected, and they are Helsinki\'s international strengths. Kellohalli will offer new experiences by combining the two. The autumn programme will present to the locals what the place has to offer. The old Abattoir’s unique buildings will now be taken to use again and opened for everyone,” Pekka Timonen, Director of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012, says.

After 2012, the Abattoir area will continue developing. The Helsinki Wholesale Market, which is one of the City of Helsinki Departments, leases out the premises and develops the area. The work progresses building by building for at least the next five years.

Things to do at Kellohalli from breakfast till late

The Abattoir’s first building, Kellohalli, will open on Saturday 1 September at 10am. The opening day will include coffee and cake along with plenty of surprises and Radio Helsinki’s 12th anniversary celebrations from 8pm. The opening celebrations will continue on Sunday 2 September between 10am and 3pm with a brunch and a culinary flea market.

The autumn programme will include lectures, Mad Cook dinners and Open Kitchen guidance for running your own restaurant. In the Gallery’s library space, you can leaf through interesting magazines and books. Chef and restaurateur Antto Melasniemi is in charge of Kellohalli\'s autumn programme. Linda Bergroth, winner of the Young Designer of the Year award in 2012, is responsible for Kellohalli’s space design and Dog Design for its graphic image.

Visitors will be able to enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner in Kellohalli. Lunches at Kellohalli will be prepared by the most inventive chefs from Finland and abroad, and the dinners will combine food and design to our heart\'s content. For some of the evenings, guests can buy a ticket which includes entertainment and dinner; at other times there is an à la carte menu.

Kellohalli will be open to the public between Wednesday and Friday from 8am and on Saturdays from 9am. Lunch will be served between 10.30am and 3pm, and the restaurant will be open for evening diners from 6pm. Last orders will be taken at 10pm. Sunday brunch will be served between 10am and 3pm. On Mondays and Tuesdays, Kellohalli will be reserved for private functions and maintenance.

Design loves food

The interaction between design and food is evident in the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012’s programme in many other ways too. Design merges with food production, preparation, presentation as well as the social experience of eating and sustainable development. Designers around the world have turned their attention to food - and cooks, restaurants, shop chains and service providers to designers.

You can find out about urban food production and urban gardening at Pasila’s Turn Table and Espoo’s Gardens for all project. The University of Helsinki’s Think Corner’s Harvest Week will discuss food from harmful pests to the price and value choices we make when buying food.

The social significance of eating is raised in the Food Culture for the Ageing People project utilising service design and the Youth Food Festival. Both projects are the City of Helsinki\'s contributions to promote culinary culture.

Muru Pops Down in Tytyri restaurant in Lohja and Wonderwater Café Kiasma, demonstrating water usage, will be presented as new restaurant concepts. The experimental street food kitchen Snack and Pack will bring new food experiences to different urban events in Helsinki, Vantaa and Lahti.

Design will be evident in our well-known restaurants too. Designing Eating will present the joint venture between Ceramic Artist Karin Widnäs and Restaurant Savoy which resulted in the restaurant’s 75th anniversary crockery. Iittala’s projects from the WDC Helsinki 2012 ceramics to designer meetings have delighted the inhabitants of and the visitors to the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012. HOK-Elanto’s design menu will be available in the Metropolitan Helsinki area until the end of 2012. Design Afloat combines design, music and food on lightship Relandersgrund.

The Museum of Technology’s From Oven to Table – Finnish DESIGN Cast Iron for the Kitchen exhibition will present Finnish 1950s to 1960s kitchen cast iron ware designed by frontline Finnish designers. Fiskars Granary’s exhibition Taste and Form will display 67 artists’ works examining food and how it is prepared, preserved and enjoyed. The exhibitions programme will include a wide variety of different additional events from lectures to workshops and different tasting adventures.

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