The versatility of making by hand on fills the exhibition year of 2023 in the Craft Museum of Finland

Making things by hand takes many forms as the temporary exhibitions weave through a world of different materials, traditions, and experimental techniques.

The spring exhibition year will be launched with an insightful exhibition by textile artist and designer Elina Helenius that will appeal to the senses. Woven Perspectives 14.1.–23.4.2023 offers audiences a colourful experience of striking interior textiles and modern rugs, a strong sense of material and precise structural as well as cohesive design work. The exhibition celebrates Elina Helenius' 35-year career in textile art and design. The exhibition at the Lobby Gallery is also in a retrospective mood. Textile artist Virpi Vesanen-Laukkanen's exhibition Meeting Points, 17.12.2022-5.3.2023, interprets the imagery of femininity, fairy tales and stories, and gently plays with clichés.  The Window Gallery exhibition is in a rougher mood, as the exhibition On the Edge – Master Bladesmiths 7.1.-12.3.2023 presents the sharp skills of four Finnish master bladesmiths.  Jukka Hankala, Pasi Jaakonaho, JT Pälikkö and Pekka Tuominen show that the Finnish knife is the stuff of legend for a reason and each blade looks like its maker and its commissioner. The Folkdräkt exhibition will continue at the alley until 19 March 2023.

In the early summer, the main exhibition of the museum moves to the core of Finnish know-how, as the Finnish Glass Museum's Icons of Glass Art exhibition 6.5.–27.8.2023 2023 tells about the unique collaboration between artists, designers and glassmakers that emerged after the Second World War and gave birth to the icons of Finnish glass. In addition to well-known glass objects, the creators behind them will also have their voices heard. Quite different voices echo in the Lobby gallery, as the 11.3.–28.5.2023 Echo Bases – Instrument Builders Eero Lehtinen and Jukka Mäkelä exhibition makes you wonder everything the devil makes these damn fools do when they create stringed instruments from recycled materials by hand. The exhibition brings out Finnish creative madness and the diversity of materials in a great way. The same rethinking can also be seen in Lobby Gallery’s summer exhibition. In his exhibition 10.6.–17.9.2023 Barksmith Raimo Mutanen brings out a completely new dimension and unprecedented scale from the often-forgotten material. 

At the summer exhibition of the Finnish National Costume Center 24.3.─15.10.2023 Newest of the New II – The gems of Revised National Costumes, a peek into the secrets of national costume revisions and the newest revised national costumes will be presented. In the Window gallery's spring sales exhibition, the clean atmosphere has continued from one generation to another. The brushes of the Kaarnalaiva – A Neat Brush Shop exhibition 18.3.–21.5.2023 are handmade from natural materials. The summer sales exhibition Form with Hand 27.5.–27.8.2023 assembles products hand-crafted by members of PROTO – Designers of Northern Finland Association, the main theme of which is the northern dimension and attitude. A tinge of Karelian stories is also found in the summer of Craft Museum. In the lecture hall's summer exhibition Woven Dreams – Handicraft Memories of Karelia 27.6.–20.8.2023, handicrafts are approached from a multi-sensory perspective. A Karelian story or few has slipped into the weaves of the carpets of the exhibition put together by Henna Paasonen. 

The museum's main autumn exhibitions are divided into two types of atmospheres. In the exhibition Merja Keskinen – Imagined Fabrics 9.9.–3.12.2023, the starting point is interpretations of colours. Artist professor, textile artist Merja Keskinen's works representing contemporary textile art are built from parts and combinations of repeated elements. Colour variations, three-dimensional impressions and spatiality come to the fore in the works. VOYAGE – International mini textile art exhibition 9.9.–3.12.2023 is an exhibition presenting traditional and experimental textile art methods of the new textile art association UUTE ry, and starts the international triennial series organized every three years. The exhibition is an art trip to different countries and cultures, mediated by works of art. In the autumn of the Lobby gallery, the versatile use of materials and careful technical implementation can reveal new tones in light. Both minimalism and recycled materials shine in the innovative lighting of Juha Kajaniemi's exhibition LUX 30.9.–3.12.2023. 

A new exhibition will also open in Alley Gallery in the fall. The Shoemaker's Workshop – Traditions with a Tarred Yarn exhibition 20.10.2023–24.3.2024 includes the clatter of shoes matching national costumes. In the exhibition, we delve into the origin of Finnish “supikas” and other traditional shoes. 

In the fall, the Window gallery's sales exhibition can accommodate one more type of blacksmith. In the Happy Blacksmiths exhibition 2.9.–5.11.2023 internationally awarded master blacksmiths Juhani Krappe and Sami Ryhänen will present traditional blacksmithing, jewellery, decorative and utility items, and interior design products. The Window gallery's year ends with the Museum's Little Christmas Shop, which has become a tradition 11.11.–31.12.2023.

The exhibitions at Showroom, Kilpisenkatu 12, exhibits, among other things, the work of Taito Central Finland’s students, shows that handicrafts can also take a stand in Taitoliitto's touring exhibition Activism, and the skills of hobby groups as well as individual handicraft professionals are highlighted.

The most up-to-date information about the museum's exhibitions can always be found on the website of the Craft Museum of Finland. www.craftmuseum.fi 

2023 Temporary exhibitions 

Main Exhibitions
14.1.–23.4.2023 Elina Helenius – Woven Perspectives
6.5.–27.8.2023 Icons of Finnish Glass Art
9.9.–3.12.2023 Merja Keskinen – Imagined Fabrics 
9.9.–3.12.2023 Voyage – International mini textile art exhibition (2nd floor)

Lobby Gallery
17.12.2022–5.3.2023 Virpi Vesanen-Laukkanen – Meeting Points
11.3.–28.5.2023 Echo Bases – Instrument builders Eero Lehtinen and Jukka Mäkelä
10.6.–17.9.2023 Barksmith Raimo Mutanen
30.9.–3.12.2023 LUX

Lecture Hall
27.6.–20.8.2023 Woven Dreams – Handicraft Memories of Karelia

Window Gallery
7.1.–12.3.2023 On the edge – Master Bladesmiths Hankala, Jaakonaho, Pälikkö and Tuominen
18.3.–21.5.2023 Kaarnalaiva – A Neat Brush Shop
27.5.–27.8.2023 Form with Hands – PROTO – Designers of Northern Finland Association
2.9.–5.11.2023 Happy Blacksmiths
11.11.–31.12.2023 Museum’s Little Christmas Shop

Alley Gallery
23.9.2022–19.3.2023 FOLKDRÄKT – One hundred years of organised national costume work at Brage 
24.3.–15.10.2023 Newest of the New II – Gems of the Revised National Costumes 
20.10.2023–24.3.2024 Shoemaker's Workshop – Traditions with a Tarred Yarn

Showroom
15.11.2022–8.1.2023 Happiness from Handicraft
10.1.-5.3.2023 Ritva Puranen
7.3.–30.4.2023 Taito Centre Jyväskylä
2.5.–25.6.2023 Taito Organization – Activism 
27.6.–20.8.2023 Hans-Peter Schütt
22.8.–15.10.2023 Design Association Materia 
17.10.–10.12.2023 Neuliaiset – Group of Creative Quilting
12.12.2023–4.2.2024 Multicultural Center Gloria