Design and beauty shine in Scandinavia

The best skilled young people in the arts of beautification are competing in Sweden and Finland as part of WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition. Visual Merchandising took place from 14 to 17 October 2022 in Stockholm, while Beauty Therapy, Fashion Technology, Floristry, and Hairdressing will be held in Helsinki from 20 to 23 October.

Participants of Visual Merchandising had an authentic environment to compete in: the Kista Galleria shopping mall. Located in the Kista Science City in Stockholm, halfway between the airport and the city centre, the shopping mall is the biggest in the Swedish capital, with 185 stores and restaurants.

Visual merchandisers create eye-catching visual displays for the windows and interiors of shops and department stores, designed to maximize sales. During their visit, shoppers encountered Competitors in action, opening their eyes to a creative and competitive profession.

“It is a great honour for WorldSkills Sweden to host one of the competitions for WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition. It has been a big challenge to get all the pieces of the puzzle in place in a short time, but we are excited to be welcoming all participating countries and regions and together with WorldSkills International make the competition successful,” says Pontus Slättman, CEO, WorldSkills Sweden.

Across the Baltic Sea, neighbouring Finland will host Beauty Therapy, Fashion Technology, Floristry, and Hairdressing at the Messukeskus Exhibition Centre in Helsinki ​. WorldSkills Finland is leveraging on the success of the I love me event – which attracts around 50,000 visitors every year – to bring young talent into the spotlight of industry and practitioners.

I love me is the largest beauty and well-being event in Northern Europe, focusing on well-being, health, beauty, and fashion. The I love me fair is taking place at the same venue during the last three competition days.

“The events support each other very well, as the target group of both events is very similar. We believe our competition will inspire many entrepreneurs and professionals to come to the competition and fair, and the fair will benefit from that,” says Maria Ekroth, CEO, Skills Finland.

Skills Finland is providing free access to the competition, along with visits from vocational institutions in Finland. Guest from the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Finnish National Agency for Education, the City of Helsinki, industry partners and sponsors, members of Team Finland, and other important stakeholders of Skills Finland will attend. The Minister of Education, Li Sigrid Andersson, will open the event.

Praising the WorldSkills global network for enabling WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition in an almost impossible schedule, Mrs Ekroth said: “Skills Finland’s professional team also took up the challenge and wanted to be part of the solution. We have built the competitions with great enthusiasm and welcome all guests to develop excellence and create a unique and unforgettable event together.”