MyNolla in cooperation with Stockmann has renewed the socket solutions of Stockmann's Event Lounge. The lounge is located in Stockmann's department store in the center of Helsinki, which is a culturally and historically valuable commercial building and department store in the heart of Helsinki along Mannerheimintie. The department store was originally completed in 1930 and the original design is also strongly displayed in the Event Lounge. At the same time, the old building poses challenges for today's multipurpose space, where technology and sockets are needed more than before.

“The event space is in a historic part of the building, the so called Wulff corner of the building. The Wulff building was to be torn down in the early 1980s, as the department store was going through heavy modernizations and technical updates. At the last moment, when the old structure was about to be torn down, the architectural team had a revolutionary idea: what if the façade of the old building remained, but the insides would be refurbished according to modern standards. This would mean that the historical aspects of the building would be visible for future generations, and modernizations could still be realized from the inside,” says Katri Winqvist, event producer responsible for Stockmann Event Lounge.

The more elaborately decorated corner of the Helsinki department store is therefore only a facade, but in the Event Lounge located at the corner of Mannerheimintie and Pohjoisesplanadi, the large windows and old balconies tell the story of a bygone era.

Today, the Event Lounge is a space that can be reserved for company events and meetings. The space can accommodate around 30-50 people at a time for seated events, and in addition, the space is used seasonally for Stockmann's own customers. The space is used for launch events for brands sold at Stockmann, events for Stockmann's own staff, and for organizing meetings, product launches, recreation evenings and other company events.

The challenges of a historic value building

When the space was transformed into a lounge for customers, it was clear that everything in the space must respect its historical heritage. One challenge in the Event Lounge is the limited number of sockets on the wall. In addition, almost all sockets installed on the wall are, unpractically, on the wrong side of the space on the wall on the side of the windows and on the side of the recessed windows. There have already been numerous extension cords in use in order to increase the number of sockets for events and extend electricity to the necessary places. However, using extension cords flattens the appearance of a unique and cozy space as part of a value building, especially when the cables have had to be extended across the space along the floors for practical reasons.

“For example, at Christmas time, Christmas trees are displayed in the lounge, the lights of which of course need electricity to work. I've tried to hide the ugly wires under decorative gift bags and packages, but it's not really a good solution”, Winqvist shares. 

Since flexibility is specifically required for the Lounge's events, where the interior of the space is regularly changed according to needs, MyNolla approached the cooperation primarily by designing the most versatile options to serve different events and their needs.

The whole serves both the look of the space and today's needs

In accordance with the space's interior design and color scheme, the main focus was on oak and walnut tones, and depending on the location, both black and white extension cords were chosen for use. In terms of the cables, the color tones had to be planned carefully, because the Event Lounge mixes many different materials, styles and tones in the form of the floor, furniture and carpets.

“The Stockmann event lounge was a challenging but rewarding project to work on! Since the lounge is a very versatile space, used for many different occasions and events, one of our key priorities was to not just enhance the spaces look and feel but also the functionality through versatility and flexibility! The lounges layout added to the complexity of the project, as all of the wall outlets are located on only one side of the wall, which meant that we had to work with different cable lengths in order to meet the high demands. On top of the cable lengths, we chose different colored textile cables, namely black and white as well as a rich burgundy and golden cable to match and harmonize with the spaces' different interior styles”, says Lennart Schmitz, the Head of Design from MyNolla. 

Mynolla chose textile cables with different lengths to bring softness to the space and tones that match the rest of the interior. The warm burgundy textile cable is the main star, since it goes beautifully with the tones of both the brown leather sofas and the oak floor. The black textile cables, on the other hand, fit beautifully with the furniture that is on display, such as the chairs, and in addition, a gold-colored spiral cable was designed to emphasize the natural materials.

The cables for the Event Lounge were dimensioned as versatile as possible. During the Christmas season, the Christmas trees with their lights set up in the premises need length, while the extension cords placed near the window sockets have a shorter cord for e.g. charging devices and lighting.

In the different options, MyNolla also wanted to take into account the changing needs of the space on different occasions. The whole that was designed for the space increases the flexibility of the lounge and enables even more freedom for organizing events and events, both in terms of the interior and the equipment in use.

 

“It is with great pleasure that we are collaborating with MyNolla, who offers exquisite extension cords for this unique space. Since the historic space offers only a few electrical outlets, MyNolla helps us in offering beautiful and functional extension cords for our frequent gatherings and events. We are eagerly looking forward to the upcoming holiday season, when our array of events and the new product line of MyNolla will be on full display for our guests. We hope that our visitors in the Stockmann Event Lounge will appreciate MyNolla’s beautiful products as much as we do,” Winqvist says.

As a result, Stockmann Event Lounge has been updated into today's event space inside a valuable historical building, which each event organizer can modify to suit specific events without massive and expensive space solutions or significant renovation of the space.