Creative Kvarken
The aim of the project Creative Kvarken was to develop the spaces and visitor experiences of the Kvarken Archipelago World Heritage area and to consider new World Heritage products and events.
The target group for the project was mainly visitors and local actors and entrepreneurs. The project was managed by the Kvarken World Heritage Association and funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The project ran from November 2021 to June 2023, with Piia Orava as project manager and Fia Antus as project planner. Read more and see pictures of the different aspects of the project in the drop-down menus below.
Please note that the pictures on this page are owned by Kvarken World Heritage Association, and may not be used by other actors without consulting the association first.
1. Spaces
The visitor centre World Heritage Gateway
The lobby of the World Heritage Gateway was renewed with new signs, furniture and additional lighting. During the summer of 2023, the lobby will also receive a new cashier / information desk. All these will make the lobby more accessible to all visitors.
In addition, a new Children’s house was opened in the lobby in early summer 2023. Artist Sanna Ek created a new and imaginative world of images in one of the boathouses, which will attract children and adults alike to discover the Kvarken archipelago’s World Heritage in a new way!
Info points
The official World Heritage info points were updated with new visual materials and furniture. Our info points include Café & Restaurant Salteriet, the libraries of Korsnäs, Bergö and Vörå, Kvarken Boat Museum, Restaurant Strand-Mölle and VisitVaasa’s tourist information. Here you can find more information about the info points.
The visuals
The new graphical feel can also been seen in the flyer and roll-up created for our World Heritage, see the photos below. The roll-up is used by our visitor centre and info points, as well as actors working with the Kvarken Archipelago World Heritage (click the photo to enlarge it). You can get your own flyer at our visitor centre or info points.
2. Products
Kvarken sweater
A process was launched with the House of Crafts Loftet (website in Finnish) to create an own knitted pattern for the Kvarken Archipelago World Heritage. Loftet will continue to work on the project, with a kick-off workshop in autumn 2023. Follow up the progress on Loftet’s website.
Postcard series 2023
For the year 2023, a series of postcards was created that depicts World Heritage through the eyes of Children’s house artist Sanna Ek. The two illustrations in the series play with the Children’s house illustrations so that everyone can take home a little piece of the house’s art. One of the illustrations is a fun way to illustrate the backstory of our World Heritage, the Ice Age, in comparison to Finland’s longest bridge in Replot (at the time of the project). The last illustration tested what the Kvarken archipelago would look like as its own “Moomin Valley”. The cards will be on sale at the World Heritage Gate Visitor Centre during the summer 2023. Click to enlarge the pictures.
Postcard series and trays 2022
In cooperation with Studio Strandman, we created a post card series for the World Heritage. The inspiration was seasons and also the Kvarken’s gold, sea buckthorn. With the seasons we wanted to emphasize that our World Heritage can be experienced year-round. The sea buckthorn pattern was also made into plywood trays, made in Finland. The products are sold in the visitor centre World Heritage Gateway. Click to enlarge the pictures.
Pilot package 2022
With a company called Ideabutiikki, we produced a pilot product package where we combined the World Heritage’s geological key sceneries with the animals that live in the archipelago. The white-tailed eagle products reveal the iconic De Geer moraine scenery. The perch product depicts in its stripes the flad-gloe lagoon system that is crucial for the fish. These products are made of Finnish plywood, and there is a limited edition available at the World Heritage Gateway. The photos are taken at the Granösund Fishing Museum in Södra Vallgrund. Click to enlarge the pictures.
3. Visitor experiences
Escape game Kvarken’s Sea Monster
Escape game Kvarken’s Sea Monster was created in cooperation with Robot Workshop Finland and KvarkenEscape. It is played at the visitor centre World Heritage Gateway’s main exhibition Weichsel. Read more and book your game here. The idea behind the game is to link a sea monster spotted in Kvarken in the early 1900s to the World Heritage site.
Other visitor experiences
- Our World Heritage area can be explored through a 360 photo tour on the open Kuula.co service. You can also experience the tour with VR glasses! No app is needed, you can access the website using the glasses’ web browser.
- In cooperation with the the Kvarken World Heritage Association’s project World Heritage Educator in the Kvarken Archipelago, a Kvarken backpack was created for school groups. Creative Kvarken helped design the content of the pilot backpack. More information on the concept is available from the cooperation project.
4. Events
Children’s World Heritage summer exhibitions
The visual world created and digitized for the World Heritage Gateway’s Children’s house is so stunning that we decided to organise a touring summer exhibition of the original paintings by artist Sanna Ek. During the summer, the paintings will be on display at the Vörå main Library 16-30th June and at the Korsnäs library 1-30th July 2023. Would you like to have your own Children’s World Heritage exhibition? Contact the Kvarken Customer Service: +358 50 3466 200 or info@kvarken.fi
Events organised in Finnish and Swedish
- In February 2023, during Valentine’s Day week, we released a new online lecture concept for the Kvarken Archipelago World Heritage, Heritage Talks in Kvarken! The background theme Heritage Talks in Kvarken 2023 lectures was sea buckthorn and land uplift forest. More information about the concept is availabe in Finnish here and in Swedish here.
- In the autumn 2022, we organised a series of storytelling nights that spread througout the archipelago and were held in Finnish and Swedish. Each night was dedicated to different themes and stories. Detailed information about the event series is available in Finnish here and in Swedish here.
