Amazing news as Bob W Kaarti has been selected to the finals of GRI Hospitality Awards as the best hospitality project of the year, tributing to the top developers, investors, and other outstanding organisations active across European real estate. Please share the good vibes and vote here, if You also think the property turned out as STUNNING as we do.

Bob W featured in Archelloon. The lovely article can be read from here.

Finland has been chosen as the happiest country in the world for the seventh time in a row. How fitting that the New York Times’ weekly listing, T List, featured our newest project Original Sokos Hotel Royal Vaasa as the place to stay now, as it was especially designed to bring joy to visitors alike! Thank you for the feature, T List. We hope that the transformed spaces will attract visitors to Vaasa city and Hotel Royal both locally and globally. See the whole listing

One of our recently hotel projects – Hotel Royal – is featured in Design Stories. Read how we were able to turn the 80´s architecture into a super memorable customer experience where colours, patterns and art create a bold, elegant and soothing experience. Link to full story

Lovely news from Hanasaari, where we continue the development of Hanasaari’s hotel operations. Currently, we have underway the renovation of ten hotel rooms. Have you already visited Hanasaari? This magnificent destination located on the border of Espoo and Helsinki is filled with the eclectic 70s ambience and contemporary art. Hanasaari is a gem for staycations, and, it might also have one of Finland’s most beautiful inhouse swimming pools.

In all quietness, we have rejoiced here over this lovely design project in Mariehamn. Mariehamn City Hall, designed by architect Lars Sonck and completed in 1939 is currently changing. We could not be more happy to be involved in this loveliness.

Bob W. the tech-enabled hospitality brand offering smarter and climate-neutral alternatives to hotels and short-stay rentals, is further expanding its footprint in Helsinki with KOKO3. “Our team could not be more enthusiastic, says Mari Relander who is leading KOKO3´s creative team. “It’s amazing to continue our collaboration with Bob yet to another new location in Helsinki.

What on earth went on in the minds of Jukka and Diana when tackling the super interesting project of The Sandbox, located in Culver City in Los Angeles. Design Stories spent an afternoon in our studio chatting about this project.

Bob W. the innovative tech-driven short-term rental brand, is further expanding its presence in Helsinki by taking over the iconic former Hotel Rivoli Jardin in the vibrant Kaartinkaupunki district. This move increases Bob W’s European portfolio, marking its operation of 32 properties spanning 20 cities in nine countries. “Our design will be based on the identity of Kaartinkaupunki district,” says the lead design Mari Relander. “The interior will be about comfy functionality wrapped in Helsinki colours, hand-picked Finnish vintage pieces and art-inspired details that we have custom designed for this property. Simply, it will be a sustainable gem, with art at heart!”

Rome’s Villa Lante to undergo complete renovation – KOKO3 responsible for furnishing

The ever-enchanting Villa Lante in Rome will close its doors for the next two years to undergo a complete renovation. The Republic of Finland acquired the 16th-century Renaissance villa in 1950. The purchase was funded by Amos Andersson, the founder of the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae – The Finnish Institute in Rome.

Osuuskauppa KPO will fully renew its Original Sokos Hotel Royal Vaasa in 2023-2025. The first part of the multi-building complex to undergo a complete renovation is the Torni building. Inspiration for the new design comes from Vaasa’s own city identity. Be on the lookout for sunny, energizing and colorful spaces. More information can be found on the hotel’s website.

Enter through the metaverse’s door: KOKO3 is thrilled to be chosen as the creative partner to develop The Sandbox global offices both in the U.S. and in Europe. The Sandbox is a community-driven platform, where creators can monetize voxel assets and gaming experiences on the blockchain. Here is a sneak peek of the Culver City flagship, opening this summer.

KOKO3 has worked closely with hotel owners and dream team Jussi and Netta Paavonseppä to design the new go-to hotel in the historic Fiskars village. Named after the village’s original name, The Torby aims to offer unique experiences in a stunning new-meets-old setting. In addition to KOKO3, the project includes superstars like Poiat, Saas Instruments, Mikko Laakkonen and Nikari.

Welcome to The Torby from 1st June 2023!

KOKO3 is been chosen as the interior design partner for the Original Sokos Hotel Royal Vaasa. A major renovation project has been underway at a brisk pace during the autumn. An important goal of the hotel’s renovation is to build the most energy-efficient hotel in the country. This will be made possible by implementing geothermal heating as the main form of heating, building a major solar power plant and recovering energy from waste water. In addition, the building services will be completely renewed. The story was first reported by YLE.

Our incredible furniture design collaboration with IDÉE, the Japanese lifestyle brand owned by MUJI, is now launched. The Home Furniture range we designed premiered in stores in Japan. The Home Furniture range is available in eight different versions and two different shades. Photo by Akiko Baba

You are warmly welcome to visit KOKO3´s design studio on Wednesday 7.9 from 3pm to 6pm. This event is part of the Helsinki Design Week Open Studios program. Have a peek behind the scenes what the office life looks, feels and sounds like in an interior architectural / creative design studio. Drinks served 🙂 KOKO3, Cable Factory, Tallberginkatu 1, street level. Warmly welcome!

The Lempi furniture range designed by KOKO3 for Matri gets a new addition, a coat tree. The new product can be seen at Matri’s Habitare stand 6d50 and at the Signals trend exhibition.

Mari Relander will be the guest of Nemo Architects on Saturday 10.9 from 14-15 at the Habitare Areena stage. Mari has promised to build a collage of materials as part of the Habitarematerials exhibition and will also reveal to the audience her secrets of collage construction.

KOKO3 designed a new shop for apple products to Lasipalatsi. The products come from Söderlångvik Manor´s apple farm. The shop´s novelty are the lovely artisan ice-creams. We warmly recommend also a visit to the beautiful Söderlångvik Manor, where you can experience a slice of Tuscany.

We have great news! KOKO3 has been awarded with partnership with City of Helsinki in an extensive tender process related to new interior design and service design projects. We, together with our partner at Futurice, will now look into new interesting times to come related to the development work for the city we love, our home town. The Helsinki City Hall lobby, in the picture, is one of the projects we have already had the pleasure of working with for Helsinki. This stunning landmark was renovated in collaboration with Verstas Architects.

Sunshine, friends, good vibes, lovely drinks, and super grooves. A warm thank you to everyone who celebrated KOKO3’s 25th anniversary with us in the evening sun of Cable Factory. What a great time! Warm thanks to DJ Didier, for the drinks thanks to the highly skilled Son of a Punch drink masters, and for the burgers thanks to Alexanders. Let´s do this again next summer. Check out the party vibes on KOKO3’s Instagram.

We have some wonderful news that we can finally share with you! Over the past three years, KOKO3’s hotel design team Aino Brandt, Riikka Seitsonen, Mimmi Heikkinen and Diana Cerrada have been working on something truly special for the Helsinki hotel scene – a new and improved Solo Sokos Hotel Helsinki! The refurbished hotel will become the second Solo qualified Sokos Hotel in the city and will open later this spring. Our city’s beloved 1930s pearl has a vibrant history with many chapters – its latest one is a true celebration of Helsinki – piece by piece.

• How should you lead a multi-location workforce?
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• How can future office create a powerful platform for the deep-running cultural change?

Talouselämä wrote a piece on Digital Nature: KOKO3 is involved in a project that reinvents the shopping center concept. An incrediböe and immersive exhibition space will open in Citycenter in the spring.

Architectural Digest picked Finnair’s Non-Schengen Lounge among the Top 7 chicest airport lounges in the world! Finnair is one of KOKO3’s long-standing clients. Our collaboration in developing the customer experiences in airport lounges began in the early 2000s. Airport lounges are a great part of Finnair’s branded customer experience. They offer versatile spaces for work, relaxation, dining, and drinks.

Restaurant Boulevard Bar & Seafood will open at Bulevardi 6 before the end of the year. Boulevard Bar & Seafood offers sustainably grown and caught seafood. The restaurant stays true to classic-style cuisine spiced up with the latest food trends.

Today design studios Amerikka, Fyra, Kakadu, KOKO3, RÄIHÄ Interiors, Silvana, and Studio Joanna Laajisto have signed the Finnish Interior Design Declares petition. It calls for collaboration across studios and companies to lighten the environmental load. This is a call for action: colleagues, join us! We invite all interior architecture and interior design firms in Finland to consider our responsibility as designers of the built environment. The signed declaration can be found here. 

During the past year, we conducted more than 100 work environment interviews and collected data on how our customers work. Many of us are currently wondering what the autumn 2021 looks like for office life. We gathered our top 10 learnings regarding the post-covid workspaces.

The renovation of the historic University of Helsinki´s Snellmania campus building is underway. It has been designed together with the end-users during the past one and half years. The workspace and learning environment development and interior design are now concretized: SRV has been selected as the contractor. The renovation of the 1830s building, designed by Engel, will be completed in 2022. Ari Nisonen, Property Manager at University of Helsinki, describes the collaboration between KOKO3 and the University of Helsinki:

KOKO3 has several long-term partnerships in different fields. One of these is a partnership with Laurea University of Applied Sciences. Laurea’s learning environment projects have been a natural continuation of our work with various higher-educational institutions. Pivotal factors in designing learning environments are improved interaction between students and educators, flexibility of learning spaces and furnishings, effective group work, inviting premises, and sustainable practices.

Helsingin Levypuristamo answers the growing demand by establishing a vinyl pressing plant at Vallilan Konepaja. This is the first time pressing vinyl in Finland since 1995. Pressing plants abroad have reached their capacities with wait times exceeding four months. “We want to serve the domestic music industry, from emerging bands to large record companies,” says Helsingin Levypuristamo founder and CEO Lupu Pitkänen. Kauppalehti recently reported about the endeavor.

”KOKO3 draws from urban culture. We enjoy surprises, while anarchy and open-mindedness are our sparks.” Our fabulous creative director Aino in the latest Glorian Koti magazine, interviewed by Laura Friman.

The Vuoden Huiput judges are keeping busy. Our AD Riikka Kuukka is on the Experimental Design jury together with amazing colleagues. “The standard is high,” Riikka reveals. The shortlists will be revealed on 17th February. The best experimental design will be celebrated in the Vuoden Huiput-gala that will take place on 22nd May. Read more here. 

Glorian Ruoka & Viini magazine asked us about restaurant interior trends for 2021. The new year is always a good time to offer interior prophecies: colors will darken and become more intense. The image is from Metsätalo’s lunch restaurant, an example of a project where we played with darker tones and saturated colors.

Finally, we can share the news! The renewed Original Sokos Hotel Helsinki will open its doors in 2022. The hotel will showcase Helsinki piece by piece. KOKO3’s hotel design team is responsible for hotel room and corridor interiors.

KOKO3’s latest addition is service designer Essi Mikkola! Essi strengthens our expertise in the fields of service design and brand strategy. Essi has a strong background in design and culture from London, Madrid, and Barcelona. She has worked with trend and user analysis and design thinking methods. Visit linkedin to learn more about Essi.

We are currently working on 11 development projects for the University of Helsinki.

Art historian and Kiasma’s former museum director Tuula Karjalainen and our boss lady Aino Brandt share their thoughts on hanging art in the latest Mandatum Life Magazinessa. 

45 000m2, 6000 students, 500 teachers. Workshops, interviews, info sessions. Collaborative methods, sourcing, substitute premises. Four new builds and a historic transition for Metropolia!

Long live diversity and Finnish hotels! In today’s Helsingin Sanomat, some of our hotel partners share their thoughts on the significance of standing out in the hotel business. The story features Original Sokos Hotel Presidentti and Hotel Hanasaari.

Design Stories spent an afternoon with Jukka discussing the beautiful hotel and cultural center.  

Mamma mia! Voitaisiinko me olla tästä maininnasta enempää ylpeitä? Rehellisesti, ei. Sydän läikähtää onnesta koko tiimin puolesta. Kiitos Glorian Ruoka&Viini: vuoden 2020 parhaat / paras sisustus: Ravintola Madonna.

Aalto University’s new campus, Väre, is nominated for the Finlandia Prize for Architecture. The building is designed by Verstas Architects.

The photogenic Restaurant Madonna is seen as a fashion shoot backdrop in the latest Pirkka magazine.

Itis celebrated the opening of its new restaurant world Eatis together with selected guests. The restaurant world focuses on international cuisine. Read more about the project from our reference gallery.

We wrote an article where we share our thoughts on remote work, platform economy, and the growing significance of home. Read our through on the effects of Covid, which we compiled together with Miltton Creative.

Optio published an article about the new School of Business and interviewed Helka. The stunning campus building architecture is by Verstas Architects. The interiors combine warmth, dignity, and sustainability. Read more about the project here.