The old Selki railway station lies in southern Finland, 40 km from the capital city Helsinki on the Hanko-Hyvinkää railway line. The railway was built in 1873 by a company financed by St. Petersburg businessmen. The station itself was built at the end of the 1890’s. The Selki station was a busy loading place for lumber. It had a permanent attendant until the 1950’s and after that was operated on a part-time basis by the agent of the neighboring station of Otalampi. Passenger traffic between Karjaa and Hyvinkää ceased in 1983, and in 2001 Jukka Merta purchased the Selki station buildings from the state. After a thorough renovation project the station is now home to a design manufacturing company called Selki-asema (asema is Finnish for station). Selki-asema’s designers include Mari Relander and Anna-Katriina Tilli, Klaus Aalto, Jari-Petri Voutilainen, Mikko Laakkonen, and Elina Järvinen. Their product range includes furniture, lamps, accessories, and even cook ware – everything you might need in your house. Selki-asema also closely collaborates with several well-known Finnish designers and design companies in prototype production and through subcontracting.
Exhibition Structures
Selki asema is responsible for manufacturing the furniture used in STRAIGHTFORWARD. The exhibition furniture is designed by interior architect Teemu Oksanen who is also one of the two curators of the event. The main material used is the Effex board by Stora Enso Timber.
