Wallpaper Design Award to Helsinki (and being bitter)

Always in my mind, like a great ex lover.

I used to subscribe to Wallpaper Magazine, the ultimate in cool for a while. I let the subscription go, however. Somehow I didn't fit to the highly specific target audience which seemed to consist of the leisure class of European hipsters. They had the money and time to, on the whim, check out some cool architectural detail of a mid century building in a village outside of Zürich. Or maybe they felt like spending a weekend in Istanbul just to sample some menu items of a restaurant that was so new it didn't even have a phone number yet. Avid Wallpaper readers were provided discreet directions, of course.

Bitterness aside, I'm now even older, and not hip, and have two kids. I will never be part of that group (even though I would like to be and maybe was pretending to be at some point). And yes, I have done my share of interesting travel. As I desperately try to hold on to that life and plan ambitious vacations to Costa Rica, I may just have to fly to a family resort in Florida instead. Trekking in Kirgistan, or paragliding in Venezuela, or mountain biking in Thailand was great at the time, but not feasible any longer.

Every once in the while, I surf onto Wallpaper site to feel nostalgic, secretly cool and not so suburban. To my surprise Wallaper and I found a common interest: Helsinki! It was shortlisted for the best city category at their 2013 Design Awards. Wallpaper praised Helsinki's restaurant scene, design projects and future transportation plans.

I have, of course, loved Helsinki for all my life and seen its development from a provincial town to a more cosmopolitan design city that also has great food. I have experienced one of my best meals ever at Luomo, for example. I didn't use the word eaten on purpose. Meal at Luomo is definitely an experience.So, maybe this time I' managed to be a bit ahead of the hipster curve.