Finnish flair in Helsinki

It gets dark very early in Helsinki at this time of year. At Hvitträsk, as I trudge through the snow, all I can see is a few lit windows in the houses built by Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen.

When Helsinki becomes World Design Capital on January 1, the ghosts of those three architects should be having a party here because, more than anyone else, these men helped the Grand Duchy of Finland see itself as independent from Mother Russia.

Long before Finland declared independence in 1917, it was able to think of itself as a separate entity. By the end of the 19th century, composers, poets and painters had declared emotional and intellectual independence. Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen put those ideas into architectural form.

What happened in 1917, while Russia was distracted by its revolution, was simply the political confirmation of an autonomy that already existed in the minds of the Finnish nation.

Design has always been important in Finland. A country that spends months in darkness needs attractive houses in which to sit out the winter. At Hvitträsk in 1902, Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen pioneered what we now call Scandinavian design with comfy sofas, big fireplaces and cosy dining areas.

Heavy drinkers all, they also designed poles with hand rings where you stood with your glass of wine, beer, vodka or Lakkalikööri (cloudberry liqueur). Only when holding on to the ring became no longer enough to support you was it time for bed.

You can see where Conran, Philippe Starck and Ikea got their ideas when you study these men. They turned their back on middle-class Russian formality and went for comfort and function.

Across Helsinki today you can still see remains of Russian design. The neoclassical Aleksanterin Theatre and City Hall could have been ferried from St Petersburg, and Uspenski Cathedral is like an off-cut from Red Square.

But Helsinki really belongs to the National Romantic movement, a Finnish form of Art Nouveau which looked to Finland's mythic past while embracing radical new techniques.

No building exemplifies this better than the granite Central Railway Station, designed by Gesellius and Saarinen in 1904 and redesigned by Saarinen alone in 1909, emerging as the defining statement of early Finnish identity in architecture. Guarded by warrior statues, it was unlike anything seen in Europe.