About Lahti

Welcome to Lahti! The Lake District of The World Design Capital 2012.
Lahti combines the best parts of both small and large cities. It holds the beauty, homeliness and simple creativity of a small town and the wide offerings, efficiency and logistics of a large city.

During its time as the World Design Capital Lahti is offering a wide variety of design related events as well as introducing interesting local designers and actors from the field of design. Lahti is the most interesting center of industrial design in Finland offering a meeting place for companies, products, designers as well as training and education in design. Thanks to the close cooperation between industry and education the local companies are renowned for their skills in industrial design.

The design expertise in Lahti is also a result of strong industrial traditions. There is a tradition of cooperation in all areas: training and education, research, between competing companies as well as a lot of international activity and cooperation by the young designers. The Institute of Design and Fine Arts in the Lahti University of Applied Sciences is amongst the leading schools of design in Finland.

Lahti is also one of Finland?s main hubs for environmental business activity. Research into renewable energies is being conducted in the region and sustainable development is an important part of the urban strategy.

Lahti has roughly 100,000 inhabitants. It is a lively meeting point between Helsinki and St. Petersburg. Lahti is located by the lake Vesij?rvi and the city is able to cater a variety of high class services.

Thus offering a living environment that is both comfortable and close to nature offering diverse possibilities for free time.