In the last couple of weeks or so, two seemingly insignificant news stories have reached my ears. First, Starbucks announced they enter the Finnish market - yes, there are still markets where the brand isn’t active yet - and second, the main Finnish newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat (HS), revealed plans to move from broadsheet to tabloid format.

My somewhat antihipsteresque circle of acquaintances, all but a few easily described as knowledge workers or belonging to the creative class, seems to gre..

What is the Future of Work? Regarding this issue I was interviewed by Welcome to Finland magazine some months ago.

It has been said that the future worker is either in a big trouble or the winner of his own labour market. It seems clear that workers have to be more flexible than before and be able to react to changes in the market and product development quickly. They should have a high tolerance level for stress, hurry and strict deadlines.

In addition to independent working culture, many tasks..

SlowHill is an innovative Finnish music project consisting of legendary masters of experimental music: Mr. Tapani Rinne aka RinneRadio and Vellu Maurola aka Dj Slow.

About a year ago I was asked to write a short essay to be used as sleeve notes for SlowHill’s latest release. The album, Muzak, consists of ten calm musical pieces that enjoyably stimulate the mind. I listened to the album continuously as the rich colours of the Finnish autumn slowly turned into the dark of early winter.

Muzak is ..

We are soon to enter year 2011. Surrounded still by financial crisis, climate change, pension bomb, and swine flu, the Western soul is troubled by confusion, fear and contradicting moods.

Culturally pessimistic prognoses portray world wars, revolutions and the downfall of the Western civilisations. The optimists, on the other hand, smilingly await the future – as naively as the folks on the upper decks of the Titanic once did, the sceptics would say. All in all, we live in a hectic, turbulent, ..