Global Sourcing: Fibre optic designer: Helena Hietanen

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Helena Hietanen

Designer Helena Hietanen (born 1963) lives and works Helsinki, Finland. Education: University of Art and Design Helsinki.

Helena Hietanen using fibre optics, has produced a number of beautiful wallhangings. Using LED lights, she creates textiles that transmit light.

Exhibitions:

1. Galerie Anhava, Helsinki, Finland 1996
2. Illuminazione, The Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy 1997
3. Helsinki – Arsenal, Kunsthalle, Riga, Latvia 1997
4. Ume.Se, Umeå, Sweden 1998
5. The Czech Museum of Fine Arts, Prague, Czech Republic 1999
6. Les Champs de la Sculpture 2000, Paris, France 1999
7. Internationale Kunstmesse, Berlin, Germany 2000

The exhibition Cloth & Culture NOW is a major initiative, bringing together 35 artists from Finland, Japan, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the UK. Textile has played an important role in the cultural identity of these countries and each of the artists is using that textile history to investigate the importance of specific cultural identity and trans-cultural influences in their work.

(Fig.1. Cloth & Culture Now Official logo)

‘ANGEL HAIRS IN THE ARCHITECTURE - HOW I PERCEIVE LIGHT IN TEXTILE AND ARCHITECTURE’

the artists - Helena Hietanen

According to the interview she works with light as her main interest. When she used to talk about light she consider it in broad sense. She use light as reflections in different materials. Light for her is like sculptural material and she use it in many ways depending on the artwork or situation. She also use light as texture or phenomenon. She get her ideas of natural light, but often she use artificial lighting technique to work with the idea. Many of her thoughts as how to use light come from looking around: She love to notice those sudden moments of bright sunlight in her eyes or moving shadows of trees branches on the ground. She is always trying to involve nature with her artistic work even though the materials can be very technical. Many people have commented that her artworks made out of optical fibres bring about associations with nature, for example: fire, stars, water and even butterflies. Most touched comment for her, was made by four-year-boy comment who said that the free hanging optical fibres in artwork called Technolace were like 'angel hairs'. During recent years she has become more interested in light itself and how light is changing interiors and places. From working with lightsculptures and objects she has started to look more at surrounding environment and the space. She perceive the changes of natural light in certain space and this brings ideas for how to work with light. If she has a possibility she want to include the artwork with the architecture entirely.