In Finland, design has never been only about form. It is closely tied to everyday life, to the landscape and, perhaps most importantly, to a culture of making. From weaving and woodworking to knitting and textile crafts, working with one’s hands has long been part of Finnish creative culture, influencing architecture, interiors, fashion and design across generations. 

This relationship between tradition and transformation provides a fitting backdrop for Habitare 2026, taking place in Helsinki from 2–6 September. Finland’s leading furniture, interiors and design fair returns this year under the theme “Plot Twists”, looking at the unexpected turns through which homes, objects and ideas evolve.

Rather than understanding design as a linear process leading towards a definitive result, Plot Twists embraces experimentation, adaptation and chance. An unfinished idea, an unexpected material or even a mistake can become the beginning of something new. The home, accordingly, is presented not as a finished composition but as a living environment that changes together with its inhabitants.

This openness to change also raises a broader question particularly relevant to contemporary Nordic design: how can traditions remain alive without simply being repeated? One answer can be found in the work of Finarte, the Finnish rug company presenting new designs at Habitare this September.

Founded in 1985, Finarte is a family-owned design house known for reinterpreting Finnish textile traditions through a contemporary lens. Working with designers and skilled artisans, the company produces handcrafted rugs using natural and recycled materials, combining Nordic aesthetics with traditional weaving techniques.

Its history begins with founder Eija Rasinmäki, who pioneered the revival of the Finnish rag rug during the 1980s. Traditionally woven from strips of recycled textiles, often old sheets or clothing, rag rugs had long been familiar objects in Finnish homes and community weaving workshops. Rasinmäki reconsidered this everyday textile tradition through contemporary design, helping transform the humble rag rug into a modern design object.

Craftsmanship remains central to Finarte today. Its rugs are handcrafted in India, where Finarte has worked with the same weaving communities and workshops for more than four decades. Rasinmäki, now 80, still travels to India to teach Finnish weaving techniques and exchange knowledge with the artisans.

“Every rug is a dialogue between the designer and the weaver. Every weaver brings their own skills and knowledge to the product.”

— Larissa Immonen-Sharma, Finarte CEO

The company sees this long-term relationship between designer and maker as fundamental to both the character and quality of its rugs. At Habitare, alongside several new models, Finarte will also show its recent collection with Finnish designer Ervin Latimer, a collaboration that resonates particularly strongly with the fair’s theme.

Latimer’s starting point was his own mixed and partly unknown family history. On his mother’s side, he can trace his family roots in Northern Finland’s Siikajoki river region back to the 17th century. His paternal history is less traceable: his father is from South Carolina, while the family’s earlier origins most likely connect to Senegal, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Instead of trying to reconstruct a history that could no longer be fully recovered, Latimer chose another direction. “I wanted to create a new heritage for people like me, for everybody’s enjoyment.”

The idea of a new heritage became the foundation of the collection. Latimer researched historic Finnish wall textiles and traditional rya rugs, while his structural compositions draw connections between Nordic and African craft traditions.

Known for bold and colorful prints through his work in fashion, Latimer translates this visual energy differently in the Finarte collection. Rather than relying primarily on pattern, the rugs gain their character through structure, texture and material experimentation. Raised surfaces and graphic compositions turn the textile itself into a landscape, allowing the construction of the rug to become part of its visual language.

The collaboration also represents a generational shift for Finarte. After celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2025, the company is looking toward the future through collaborations with new creative voices. Latimer  - fashion designer, creative director of Latimmier and professor of practice at Aalto University - has become known for introducing questions of identity, representation and culture into the Finnish design conversation.

His collaboration with Finarte therefore becomes more than a meeting between designer and manufacturer. It brings together an established Finnish design house and a new generation reconsidering what Finnish design can look like today. Sometimes, after all, the most interesting continuation of a tradition begins when its story takes an unexpected turn.

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Words: Simone Lorusso