The winners of the 9th annual Habitare Design Competition are Arttu Kuisma and Janne Melajoki, both students at the Institute of Design of Lahti, with their work “Rrround.”

Swiss designer and professor Alfredo Häberli presented the prize of EUR 6,000 at the Habitare fair yesterday. The theme of the competition was the Recycled Seat. Contestants were commissioned to develop and implement ideas about a recycled seat suitable for public spaces and short-run production.





Arttu Kuisma and Janne Melajoki / Rrround Seat. Photo by Markku Ojala.

“What do you get when you roll up 250 square meters of recycled exhibition carpet? The idea and the solution are as evident as our presence here at the fair. There is nothing to add to it. I would like to see the prize money used for realising the concept in practice,” said Häberli.

The second place prize of EUR 4,000 was given to “Benchmarked”, created by Timo Niskanen, an industrial designer, and Jussi Hiltunen, a student of industrial design at the University of Art and Design Helsinki.

“Each old object has a story that is not generally known. Knowing the history of an object gives it additional value and makes us think about preserving it. Existing technology makes this idea realistic. This could be the starting point for a new attitude toward design,” said Häberli. 

The finalist entries are on display at the fair through Saturday.