Weekend Wrap

AI takes on skin cancer, NHL gets into streetwear and Finnish fashion wins

Streetwear brand Billebeino has struck a deal with its founder Ville Leino’s former NHL team Philadelphia Flyers. (In the picture Travis Sanheim, Travis Konecny and Ville Leino) Billebeino

It has been a good week for Finnish creative industries. Designer Jenny Hyttönen won one of the most sought-after awards in fashion, and Jalmari Helander’s film Sisu took home four awards from the Sitges film festival. Furthermore, artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be everywhere, from cancer treatments to milk chocolate. Click on the links below to take a detailed look at recent creativity from Finland.

Jenny Hytönen receives accolades in France. The Finnish fashion designer won both the Grand Prize Première Vision award and the Public Prize at the renowned Festival d’Hyères. According to Vogue, Hytönen’s unisex collection “fused two extremes: delicate, transparent knitted skirts and dresses hand-embroidered with crystals on one hand, and BDSM/’80s fetish-influenced pieces in reclaimed, reassembled leather heavily studded with screws, nuts and bolts”. (Photo: Sofia Okkonen / Aalto University)

A new AI model could enable more effective skin cancer treatment. Developed by researchers from the University of Helsinki, HUS Comprehensive Cancer Center, Aalto University and Stanford University, the model makes it possible to diagnose skin cancer with a blood test and target therapies increasingly accurately. In the future, the same model could be applied to diagnosing and treating other cancers. (Photo: Adobe/ Damian Gretka)

The world’s first deep geological storage site for atomic waste, Onkalo, is located in Finland. Stuff magazine visited the site, which the International Atomic Energy Agency has called a “game-changer”, and found a network of tunnels and caves designed to “keep nearly 3 000 24-tonne canisters of spent uranium fuel locked safely away for the next 100 000 years”. (Photo: Posiva)

Five Finnish films and three minority co-productions have been picked for the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, IDFA. Anna Blom’s The Night My Brother Disappeared, Inka Achté and Hanna Karppinen’s Jasmin’s Two Homes and Ruthless Times – Songs of Care by Susanna Helke will all screen at the prestigious festival in November. The Finnish Film Foundation has the details on all the Finnish picks. (Photo from Jasmin’s Two Homes /Napafilms)

The fashion industry has a lot to answer for when it comes to its environmental impact. International research consortium BioColour is working to change the industry for the better by replacing toxic synthetic dyes with biodegradable natural alternatives. According to the Aalto University website, their sources range from plants to microbes to food waste. (Photo: Riikka Räisänen)

Sisu wins big. The survival thriller film by Jalmari Helander won four awards at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, the largest genre festival in Europe. In addition to taking home the festival’s most significant prize, Best Feature, Sisu’s team dominated the best actor, cinematography and music categories. Screen Daily has the news. (Photo: Antti Rastivo /Freezing Point Oy)

“Concrete is one of the biggest single emitters of carbon dioxide,” says VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. But it might also have a solution. Its technology for manufacturing carbon-negative concrete has been awarded the Impact Expected prize by EARTO, an association of European research and technology organisations. (Photo: VTT).

NHL team Philadelphia Flyers ditches suits for bomber jackets with Billebeino. The Finnish streetwear brand, founded by a former Flyers player Ville Leino, has designed a travel kit for the team’s players. It will also be sold at the Flyers’ home arena, Wells Fargo Center. According to the Philadelphia Magazine, Leino described the project as “the perfect collab. You don’t have to make up any stories. I’m not big on bullshitting people, and you don’t have to do that”. (Photo: Billebeino)

Is this the milk chocolate to please everyone? Valio seems to think so. The Finnish dairy product company used AI to analyse over a million milk chocolate lovers’ thoughts, cravings and tastes and create a recipe for a healthier chocolate bar simply named The Bar. (Photo: Valio)

Published on 21.10.2022