A unique 1,000 metre tablecloth — Design for an all time Summer Night’s Dinner on 15 August 2026

1,000 metres of tablecloth designed for the Arctic Food Dinner in Oulu on August 15, 2026 is a unique expression of power of design, collaboration and our will to respect and cherish cultural diversity.

The cities of Oulu and Hangzhou have been Sister Cities since 2010. Proto – Designers of Northern Finland invited China Academy of Art, one of the best art and design universities in China, to collaborate in a bold design project to celebrate Oulu, European Capital of Culture in 2026, to honour the two Sister Cities, and to celebrate the radical creativity of designers across cultures.

The design project itself has created cultural climate change, as creative minds with different cultural backgrounds have searched inspiring and radical solutions together.

We hope that the tablecloth and the patterns designed by the five outstanding young design students and recent graduates at China Academy of Art will inspire each and every participant sitting at the dinner table on 15 August.

Warm welcome to the Summer Night’s Dinner on Saturday 15 August, 2026 at 12:00—21:00

Bring your family and friends with you. We are confident that you will get new friends round the table too.

In collaboration with Proto—Designers of Northern Finland:

China Academy of Art (CAA), Hangzhou

Arctic Food Lab, Oulu2026 European Capital of Culture

City of Hangzhou

City of Oulu

OSAO Vocational Institute in Oulu

Team

Proto—Designers of Northern Finland: Tuomas Mujunen, Chair of the Board; Päivi Tahkokallio, Director of Proto2026 Design Programme;
Annika Väisänen, Producer at Design Centre Proto; Susanna Sivonen, Designer, Artist

CAA: Han Xu, Vice President, CAA; Ling Yali, Vice Dean, School of Fashion Design; An Yuxi, Lecturer, Zhou Yuanyang, Lecturer, Helena Hyvönen, Professor

Contact

Päivi Tahkokallio, paivi@tahkokallio.fi
Zhou Yuanyang, yuanyangzhou2018@gmail.com

Students’ stories on their designs

Zheng Hanyue from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, a 2026 Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate with a major in textile design at CAA

”I realised early on that while I was familiar with my own culture, I knew very little about the  Finnish one. So, I delved into Finland’s national epic.

Kalevala is a narrative on the genesis of the world. In it the world emerges from a cracking egg. Drawing the cracks I realised that they resembled branches of plum trees, cherished in Chinese culture, so I added plum blossoms. I wanted to incorporate natural elements from both cultures in the design as I see stories of humanity’s early struggle and coexistence with nature in both.

My visual expression drew inspiration from Chinese kite and paper-cutting patterns. The sun and the moon in the design symbolise how the time difference between Hangzhou and Oulu does not prevent us from seeing the same sunlight and moonlight. Culture belongs to a nation but it also belongs to the world in large.

Zheng Hanyue, Foto He Junzhao

Mao Xiaoyan majoring on fashion design at CAA. Her hometown Ningbo is in Zhejiang Province, two hours from Hangzhou.

”My design theme for the 1,000 metres long tablecloth is nature, with a focus on the sun and various water elements. The sun in the middle symbolises the spiritual core of eternity and the primitive belief. In Chinese culture, the role of the sun in creation myths is a very central element. This visual core of my design is surrounded by goldfish and sea fish.

Through the design of ocean current patterns I connected these elements organically, not  just to create a harmonious and unified visual image, but also to convey the deep understanding in Chinese culture that human life and fate are closely linked and intertwined.

In visualisation, I utilised a totemic framework, aiming to evoke a deeper reflection of the strong bond between human origins, ancient societies, and the natural world.”

Mao Xiaoyan, Foto He Junzhao

Zheng Anqi from Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2026 from the School of Fashion Design at CAA, majoring in textile design

”Let me introduce my design concept the city roaming embodying a journey shuttling between the architecture of Oulu and Hangzhou. At its heart is an s-shaped curve, embodying the shuttle concept. This line evokes the flow of a Chinese landscape painting while at the same time time mirroring the form of a classic Finnish spiral staircase.

The two cultures meet — as you move around it, your perspective shifts, and the outline of the Oulu Cathedral transforms seamlessly into the silhouette of the well known landmark Global Centre in Gongshu District in Hangzhou. Finally, traditional geometric patterns from both Finland and China are integrated as abstract details into the urban landscape.

In summary, this is more than a pattern — it’s an invitation. We invite everyone to walk along this curve and experience a tranquil yet dynamic tour across and between East and West.”

Zheng Anqi, Foto He Junzhao

Xie Jiayi, a Bachelor of Fine Arts from School of Innovation Design at CAA in 2026, majoring on Digital Media Art. She is from Chengdu in Sichuan Province, also known as panda’s hometown.

 ”All our tablecloth designs have two equal parts, theme and colour. My theme is technology, and the centre piece of my design is a crossroads, a visual representation of circuitry and processing power. A ship, a train, a plane, robots, a robot dog and wind turbines accentuate modern technologies and their connections more in the background.

For the colours, we students chose together red for China and blue for Finland, green for Hangzhou and Oulu. Two transition colours were added to make the design more harmonious and rich. I chose blue as the main colour of my design.”

Xie Jiayi, Foto He Junzhao

Sun Ping, a junior year student majoring in Graphic Design at CAA from Qingdao, Shandong Province

”My design is about people. Two girls are holding hands in the centre — one representing Oulu and the other representing Hangzhou. I’ve differentiated them through their styles, clothing and hair colour. For example, the girl from Hangzhou is wearing a traditional Chinese qipao while the girl from Oulu is dressed in a rustic country wear.

Around them, I’ve included small elements and objects representing both Finnish and Chinese culture. For instance, you’ll see snowy mountains from the North of Finland, and mountains from traditional Chinese paintings, as well as bread from Oulu and dumplings from Hangzhou, daisies blooming in Oulu and lotus flowers in Hangzhou.

When people are sitting at the dining table, I encourage them to look closer at these little details to recognise what they represent to make the dinner experience more fun and engaging.”

Sun Ping, Foto He Junzhao

Media release 16 July, 2026

A thousand metres of tablecloth have been laid out for friendship

The Summer Night’s Dinner in the city centre of Oulu on August 15 will gather thousands of people to a shared table to enjoy local delicacies and each other’s company. Proto—Designers’ Association of Northern Finland aspired to create a kilometer-long tablecloth as unique as the event itself.

The northern designer organisation partnered with one of China’s best design universities, the China Academy of Art in Oulu’s sister city Hangzhou. Five students from various disciplines worked together for over a year to understand our northern environment, explore the connections between Oulu and Hangzhou, and design textile patterns telling stories of culture, nature, technology, architecture, and people. A deep commitment to peace and friendship has guided the entire project.

Young design students Mao Xiaoyan, Sun Ping, Zheng Anqi, Zheng Hanyue, and Xie Jiayi discovered the themes and decided on the colour palette together, ensuring everyone could design their own unique pattern to fit the overall concept. The students collectively chose the slogan for the project: “Where people meet, hearts connect.”

This year-long design journey began with a workshop in Hangzhou, led by Proto member Susanna Sivonen. Throughout the way the students were masterfully guided by Professor Helena Hyvönen and lecturers An Yuxi and Zhou Yuanyang from the China Academy of Art. The entire project was spearheaded by Päivi Tahkokallio, Director of the Proto2026 design programme.

Cross-cultural projects like this require seamless collaboration. Heartfelt thanks go to the cities of Oulu and Hangzhou for recognising the potential of the sister-city bond, and to the Textile Library in Hangzhou for the professional printing of the fabrics. The Summer Night’s Dinner would not be possible without the communications experts of the Oulu2026 European Capital of Culture, the Arctic Food Lab developers of northern food culture, and the many professionals of the OSAO Vocational College.

The kilometre-long tablecloth is much more than a design piece; it represents a profound journey into cross-cultural collaboration. Understanding grows through human connection. As locals and visitors sit around the colorful tablecloths at the Summer Night’s Dinner on August 15, we hope the stories woven into the designs inspire countless new encounters.

This autumn, an exhibition revealing the design process behind the tablecloths will open at the Proto Design Centre in Oulu’s Pikisaari. At the conclusion of the exhibition, a piece of the tablecloth will be gifted to each of the 40 municipalities participating in the Oulu2026 European Capital of Culture year. Each municipality will decide how to use its piece, with the sole condition that it promotes peace and friendship.

More information

Päivi Tahkokallio, Proto2026 Design Programme, paivi@tahkokallio.fi, +358 50 324 3517

Helena Hyvönen, China Academy of Art, helena@hyde.fi, +358 50 40 503 4935

Zhou Yuanyang, China Academy of Art, yuanyangzhou2018@gmail.com, +86 15157163028