Habitare
Case: Habitare 2025 – Moderation & Workshops on the “Touch” Theme
Context
Habitare is the Nordics’ largest fair for design, architecture, and interiors. The 2025 theme was Touch – centering on multisensory, human-centred design, wellbeing, and healthy choices.
Challenge
Transform the theme into a living experience on the Teema Stage (designed by Collaboratorio) and translate emotion- and sense-driven design into practical tools visitors could use at home.
Role
Invited by the Artistic Director Päivi Helander to host the Teema Stage for five days and to lead two audience workshops aligned with Touch.
What I did
- Stage moderation (5 days): Interviews with international and Finnish leading voices in design and architecture – from Petra Börner (commissions for Chanel, Burberry, Royal Albert Museum) to glass artist Matti Klenell (extensive work with Iittala). I shaped a cohesive narrative linking global viewpoints to Nordic practice and everyday life, emphasizing emotion-led, tactile principles in design.
- Workshop 1 – Emotions & Senses in Interior Design: Participants identified beloved materials, spaces and forms that reliably generate good feelings. Through guided exercises, they explored the emotions different materials evoke, surfaced the key feelings and needs behind their interior decisions, and defined the emotional cues they want future spaces to reproduce.
- Workshop 2 – Find Your Most-Loved Interior Colours: A hands-on session to discover the colors that spark joy, calm the mind, and inspire. Each participant left with a personal palette of three favourite colours – a practical anchor for creating spaces that feel more like “you.” We discussed how colors influence mood, energy and focus, and gave tools for color choices that support wellbeing.
Why me
Alongside my brand/design work, I’m a certified Children and Youth Emotion Skills Instructor (LTTO, Lasten ja nuorten tunnetaito-ohjaaja). That expertise helped bridge multisensory design, emotions and wellbeing into simple, actionable methods for both professionals and the public.
Outcomes
- A clear, human-centred Teema Stage storyline that owned the Touch theme – highlighting emotions and multisensory design – and linked global ideas to Finnish practice.
- Good engagement on stage and popular, interactive workshops with concrete takeaways (emotion keys, personal color palettes).
- The fair’s values – wellbeing, healthy solutions and multisensory design – made tangible through conversation and practice.