Basketball, beauty rituals and bike racing

The Finnish men’s basketball team, nicknamed Susijengi (‘wolfpack’), does it again. The team has qualified for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup as the first nation in Europe. It’s the second time Finland has made the cut for the basketball world finals. Yle has the story. (Photo: Facebook / Susijengi - Basketball Team Finland)

Wallpaper has highlighted designer Yrjö Kukkapuro’s experimental approach to furniture. “Every new decade serves to further his reputation and cement his legacy as one of the grand masters of modern design,” the magazine writes after a visit to Kukkapuro’s home and studio near Helsinki. (Photo: Facebook / Yrjö Kukkapuro Collection)

Malay Mail has explored Finnish traditions and picked three beauty rituals to try this autumn. Sauna, avanto (or ice swimming) and tree sap are guaranteed to boost your mood. (Photo: Juho Kuva / Visit Finland)

Cycling Weekly went gravel biking with Finnish Formula 1 star Valtteri Bottas and found some seriously fun “groads”. Bottas is helping to put together a new gravel bike racing event in Finland, which the magazine describes as “a real smile-inducing rollercoaster of a ride, fitting for the world’s happiest place”. (Photo: Facebook / Valtteri Bottas)

Circular economy startup Innomost has raised one million euros to boost its global growth. The Kokkola-based company develops and produces bioactive ingredients from the Finnish forest industry’s side streams. Its products can be used, for example, to replace microplastics and palm oil in cosmetics. (Photo: Facebook / Innomost)

VMan has put rising Finnish fashion designer Ervin Latimer into the spotlight. The magazine says Latimer’s recently launched ready-to-wear collection, titled Latimmier, is “catching eyes for reinterpretations of classic menswear that flirts with relaxed tailoring and contemporary silhouettes”. (Photo: Hayley Lê)

To really reap the benefits of exercise, follow it with a visit to the sauna. Researchers at the University of Jyväskylä found that combining sauna bathing with exercise improved our cardiovascular health more than just exercising. Read more on MedicalNewsToday. (Photo: Harri Tarvainen)

I Wonder Pictures has boarded Finnish comedy The Player by director Teemu Nikki (pictured), Variety reveals. The Italian distribution company will also handle the film’s local distribution. In the film, gambling meets an unlikely friendship as two men find themselves in a no-way-out situation. (Photo: Jari Salo)

Kummakivi (‘strange stone’) seems to defy physics. Located in Ruokolahti, Finland, the boulder is balancing on a piece of rock and looks like it might fall off any minute. Instead, it has stayed sturdily in place for centuries and now attracted the intrigue of HowStuffWorks website. (Photo: Kotivalo, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Helsinki’s Design Museum is taking Iittala’s designs to Japan in a travelling exhibition. The exhibition covers 400 items, sketches and images and will tour the country for over two years. The tour will kick off at the Bunkamura museum in Tokyo on 17 October 2022. (Photo: Iittala)

Violinist Pekka Kuusisto has returned to the renewed classical music concert series BBC Proms. Kuusisto joined the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and its conductor, Nicholas Collon, at London’s Albert Hall to perform music from Ralph Vaughan-Williams, Thomas Adès, Claude Debussy and Jean Sibelius. The Arts Desk calls Kuusisto and his performance “irresistible in a pair of contrasting showpieces”. (Photo: Sonja Werner)