Helsinki Design Award goes to Päivi Raivio for her placemaking activities in the Finnish capital

Designer Päivi Raivio has been announced as the winner of the 2022 Helsinki Design Award. The joint program by the City of Helsinki and Helsinki Design Week recognizes a designer or design team for making the Finnish capital a better place to live in. 

Over the summer, Raivio worked on an urban space experiment that precedes the renovation of the Helsinki Ylä-Malmi market square. Located in the Helsinki suburb of Malmi, the square is conceived as a collection of oases that offer green spaces and venues for small-scale events and workshops. This initiative is part of Helsinki’s aim to establish placemaking activities throughout the city. Raivio worked alongside residents and various community groups to reimagine these spaces. 

Päivi Raivio has more than a decade of experience in participatory design. She received a Bachelor’s in Design and Public Art at Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. She also has a Master’s degree in Applied Art and Design from the University of Art and Design Helsinki in 2009. Raivio works as a freelance designer, artist, and facilitator in the field of urban design, service design, co-design, site-specific art, and placemaking. Her work is mainly rooted in public space. 

She also works with artist and designer Daniel Bumann at their joint agency RaivioBumann. Together they developed Parkly, a brand of smart and urban furniture that encourages citizens to participate in their environments and helps promote more green infrastructure. 

As detailed in the City of Helsinki’s announcement, “The objective of the Helsinki Design Award jury was not only to survey successful products and services but also to recognize how important processes are in producing better everyday solutions for the citizens.”

The award jury included City of Helsinki’s Design Director Hanna Harris, Urban Tech Helsinki’s Taina Seitsara and Kalle Toivonen, founder of the creative agency Måndag, Arto Sivonen, and Pentagon Design’s Virva Haltsonen. The chairman of the jury is Helsinki Design Week’s Founder and Director Kari Korkman.

“Experimentation culture can put major changes in motion if designers manage to combine ideas with correct timing,” said Korkman. “In this respect, Raivio’s work represents great potential.”

“Päivi Raivio has participated in urban development in the long haul, shaping not only the city space around us, but above all the methods and processes of development,” adds Harris.  “I am happy to give this year’s Helsinki Design Award to an established specialist in citizen-driven design.”