Guests gathered amongst the forest landscape of HALTIJA.

For Saturday Indesign 2026, KFive opened the doors to HALTIJA, welcoming Sydney’s architecture and design community into a landscape shaped by Finnish design, forest, folklore and craft.

For one Saturday in September, our Surry Hills showroom became a little piece of Finland.

Created for Saturday Indesign 2026, HALTIJA took its name from Finnish folklore and the guardian spirits believed to watch over places and objects. It was an idea that gave us a way to explore something much bigger: the relationship between design and the natural world, and the materials, knowledge and craftsmanship that connect the two.

Throughout the showroom, Nikari furniture sat amongst trees and moss, alongside Marimekko textiles, Helen Kontouris’ Petra Collection and sculptural works by Broached Commissions.

But once the doors opened, the forest became something else entirely.

It became a place for people.

The Nikari collection framed by the soft layers of HALTIJA.

Finnish-inspired food shared amongst the forest.

Friends and collaborators of HALTIJA, gathered in the KFive Sydney showroom.

A conversation in the forest

At the heart of Saturday was Forest to Form: The Role of Timber and Tradition in Contemporary Finnish Design.

Johanna Vuorio and Jenni Mikkonen of Nikari joined Erna Walsh of KFive and Ben Edwards of Studio Edwards, with the conversation guided by Marika Haromo of Genton.

Together, they explored the relationship between timber and place, the knowledge held by makers, designing for longevity, and what Finnish and Australian design cultures can learn from one another.

The forest felt like an appropriate place to have those conversations.

For Nikari, timber is more than simply a material. Based in Fiskars Village in southern Finland, the company has spent decades developing an intimate understanding of wood, working with its natural characteristics rather than trying to erase them.

It is an approach that asks us to think beyond the finished object and consider what came before it: the landscape, the tree, the material and the hands that shaped it.

Forest to Form: a conversation on timber, tradition and contemporary Finnish design.

The architecture and design community gathered for Forest to Form.

From forest to furniture

That relationship between nature and making continued throughout HALTIJA.

Nikari’s collection brought Finnish timber and craftsmanship into the centre of the installation, surrounded by the landscape that inspired it.

Nearby, Petra by Helen Kontouris, upholstered in Marimekko’s Unikko, brought Australian design into conversation with one of Finland’s most recognisable textile languages, while works from Broached Commissions introduced another perspective on material, history and making.

Rather than presenting each piece in isolation, we wanted HALTIJA to allow these different design stories to sit together.

Natural textures and quiet details echoed the Finnish landscape throughout HALTIJA.

Nikari amongst Marimekko’s iconic textiles.

Nikari’s Periferia KVJ3 Stool and Helen Kontouris’ Petra in Marimekko Unikko.

When the forest filled

Across the day, the showroom slowly filled with architects, designers, collaborators and friends of KFive.

Coffee in the morning gave way to conversation amongst the trees, Finnish-inspired food and drinks, furniture discovered from different angles, and plenty of moments that we could never have planned.

After months of imagining HALTIJA as drawings, references, materials and ideas, seeing people move through it was perhaps the most rewarding part of all.

Because while HALTIJA began with the forest, ultimately it became about the people within it.

Finnish-inspired flavours served throughout the day.

Broached Commissions amongst the layers of HALTIJA.

One Saturday in the forest

Saturday Indesign gave us an opportunity to do more than display furniture.

It gave us a reason to bring people together and have conversations about where our materials come from, the knowledge behind the objects we live with, and how we might design with greater consideration for what lasts.

There is a lot we can learn from the forest.

Thank you to everyone who stepped inside ours.

HALTIJA, KFive Sydney
Saturday Indesign 2026

Photography and film by Yasmine Ke.