Fiskars Village in Finland

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If the buzzing Design District in Helsinki is the heart of Finnish Art and Design, then its soul must surely reside in the Fiskars Village. Set in picturesque Finnish countryside about 100 km west of Helsinki on the old main road from Turku to Vyborg, it provides a very tranquil setting for the artists who reside here. 

Founded in 1649, Fiskars the well-known scissors brand started its ironworks in this small village, at a time when this region of Finland was renowned for production of iron. Despite this long history, Fiskars started moving its operations out of the village in 1980’s as it needed bigger and modern facilities. Leaving these beautiful brick buildings empty and abandoned, much like the mill buildings in Manchester.  

However, unlike the industrial buildings in Manchester, this was not the end for this Finnish village, wanting to keep the traditions of the village alive; Fiskars started looking for new uses and inhabitants. This was the beginning of a project titled ‘A Living Ironworks Village’ which brought craftsmen, designers and artists to live and work in the vacant historic buildings and form a commune. 

Set up in 1996 ‘The Cooperative of Artisans, Designers and Artists’ was a huge success and the result is the Fiskars Village of today. Today there are 121 artists in residence with professions ranging from cabinetry makers to ceramists and visual artists to industrial designers. 

The village provides an ideal setting to display the high-quality Finnish art and industrial design that these artists produce. Design shops dot the village and there are regular exhibitions to showcase the artists work. The official shop on the premises is Onoma, which is a located in the the Clock Tower. It  is wonderfully laid out, with its shelves chock full of quirky objects made by the resident artists. It was made all the more magical because of its setting in a period building, with light streaming in from the large casement windows.

handmade glass plates by artist in residence Anu Penttinen

A quirky chandelier made of twigs and copper wire

candle stands by Anneli Sainio 

ceramics and tableware

glass floor lamp and vases

Trays and other wooden items by Tuulia Penttila made of Finnish Birch

During my visit to the Village, I also chanced upon a very interesting exhibition called ‘CASE in point’. According to its brochure, “Boxes, containers and cases have fascinated people throughout the ages, and they are artifacts of wide range and diversity. The purpose of CASE in point is to find new ideas and forms related to the concept of the container”. 

The exhibition featured over a hundred boxes by different artists. There were antique boxes to store decanters, cigars and even a grooming set. Juxtaposed with these were the modern boxes to store such intangible items such as dreams and memories, whisper prayers in or hide things.

of boxes old

and boxes new

Made of innovative materials, these turned the concept of the container on its head, with diverse spatial interpretations of what we might think of as a box.

Most of the pieces were works by new designers and students that were showing to the public for the first time. Instead of seeming amateurish, this lent an element of surprise to the objects and I came away feeling refreshed, and if you may spare the pun, thinking out of the box!

Design District Helsinki

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It is May again and I have been thinking a lot about my trip to Finland this time last year. Helsinki was still bitterly cold, with the freezing Northern winds howling around and occasional hailstorms adding to the chill. But once I discovered the Design District, I simply didn’t notice the cold anymore. I’d found my favorite place in the world – the perfect place to make me happy. Actually happy is a small word – ‘like a kid in a candy store’ describes my state of mind much better!

The Design District is a creative cluster in the heart of Helsinki consisting of 25 streets and 200 shops, cafes, boutiques, restaurants, art galleries, museums and design hotels. It is an absolute Mecca for design junkies like you and me. You would know you are in the Design District when walking around central Helsinki; you come across shop windows bearing black stickers.

All these shops are part of the Design District Association, set up in 2005 in order to bring together Finnish design labels spanning diverse crafts, fashion, textiles, furniture, jewellery and lighting in one area of Helsinki. This creative hub hosts Finland's biggest design brands such as Iittala, Artek, Marimekko, Aarikka and Aero. At the same time, it is also home to many new designers who have yet to gain international recognition. Clustering big and small labels creates joint opportunities for marketing and organizing major events in the area. Such as the Design District Week, which I was lucky to be part of - shops stayed open for late night shopping, the programme included meetings with the artists, discounts, workshops, demonstrations and much more.

Design is very much a part of daily life in Finland and makes up the core of Finnish national identity. Helsinki has had a long tradition as a city of design, a reputation further boosted by having a thriving Design District at its heart. It is like a large open museum of contemporary Finnish design, which is characteristically minimalistic, durable, robust and functional.

The district does not have a set boundary and spans out from the Dianapuisto Park at its centre, towards Kamppi, Esplanade and Eira. It reminds me of a bazaar where shoppers can stroll from store to store, and have a richer experience than the confinement of a modern shopping mall. My favorite spot in the district is the triangle around Diana Park (named after the sculpture of Diana by Yrjö Liipola which was unveiled in 1929). It has the Design Forum Shop, which provides information about the latest trends in Finnish design and right across the street is Aero, a must visit for contemporary furniture.

Aero is right across the road from the Design Forum Shop

Images courtesy Laila Alanen from the Design Forum Finland   

Innovative storage solutions

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A few days ago, frustrated with the constant clutter in my small kitchen, I set about looking for innovative storage solutions. And came across these stylish glass drawers for the kitchen. They are so ingenious; I wished I had designed them. Cannot wait to get my hands on them and start stuffing them with pretty stuff. 

Not only do they look stylish, they are also a way to gain extra space. As they can be hung on a wall, attached to the bottom of kitchen cabinets and island units. Let your imagination go wild and fill them with staples such as beans, lentils, flour and sugar. Alternatively, make full use of the glass front drawers to display colourful items like candies, cookie cutters or fruit tea bags. 

I know exactly where I would put it, it would go above my counter and serve as a perfect little baking station filled with all my baking paraphernalia. Infact it is so versatile that I can imagine several different functions for it, it can be used to store stationary above a work desk or sewing station, used as a knitting cabinet or even a under a dresser where it would look delicious filled with make-up and jewellery. 

Modern and classic at the same time, they can add a rustic tone to your kitchen. Like in this kitchen where they look fabulous tucked under a rustic old table.

Via My Paradissi

My Kitchen Table

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We had some friends over today for wine, nibbles and board games. Here, have a peep at my kitchen table, laden with all sort of goodies - a cheese board, crackers, fruits, hummus and honey yogurt dip. Ofcourse the pride of place goes to the Blackberry lattice pie made from scratch by me! 

The table runner is Concetta by Habitat.

W Hotels Retreat & Spa, Vieques Island by Patricia Urquiola

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Designed by Patricia Urquiola, this beautiful W Hotels Retreat & Spa on Vieques Island is located off the southeast coast of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. Vieques was an undiscovered island before the hotel was built and is still mostly virgin land with stunning nature and wildlife, truly a beautiful island paradise.

The design compliments this setting perfectly. I have always admired Patricia Urquiola, the Spanish designer based in Milan. She is known for her attention to detail but she seems to have outdone herself here. Many colours have been used yet it does not feel overly colourful. Urquiola knows exactly when to stop,with her it's all about restraint and placement, for if you take away the accents, the interiors turn to nothing. I also like the innovative way of using locally available materials, specially the stone flooring and the cane chairs.

The interiors are eclectic but warm and welcoming at the same time. The design is like a breath of fresh air and every space makes me want to smile. Have a look and tell me if you feel the same. 

All images are via the Contemporist and you can visit the website for W Hotels Retreat & Spa, Vieques Island here.

Food Discovery Friday – Pink Grapefruit!

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All right so I have to concede. I am finding it incredibly exciting discovering the new and exotic variety of produce in Cambridge. It has to be one of the highlights in the initial phase of expat life. I can say with certainty, because I am enjoying it to the fullest!  

I love roaming around supermarkets and farmer’s markets like an Alice in wonderland. These places hold endless surprises for me, and I can happily spend hours browsing through fruit and vegetables and herbs and greens. It is hard to believe how much there is to see, and eat!

I have to say it’s a pleasant surprise for me, I did not expect to find anything exotic in the food department here. Unlike countries such as Italy or France, Britain is not exactly known for its cuisine. However, being a former colonial power, it has always been a melting pot of culture and food. Foodstuffs from all it’s colonies reached Britain’s shores and were readily adopted by the people - tea from China, spices and herbs from India and bananas from Bermuda which arrived as late as 1633. The country today is home to diverse ethnic groups and the huge variety of produce available, is a reflection of this multi-cultural society.

Also being a small island country it’s impossible to grow everything here so most of the food is imported. The supermarket shelves are stacked full of thousands of different ingredients from all corners of the world and I am having a wonderful time discovering all of them. One Friday at a time!

Each Friday I will write about one ingredient that is completely new to me – something I never ate, cooked with, or even saw before in my life. As far as possible I will try to keep it seasonal.

The Discovery for this Friday is a Pink Grapefruit! A fruit, which looks like an orange from outside, but inside, it conceals the most loveliest surprise - deep pink colored flesh. A color that will make you gasp – it is so gorgeous! I find myself cutting it open eagerly just to look at the color inside. Almost like opening a specially wrapped gift.

But for all it’s beauty the taste is a bit of a letdown, you would expect such a richly colored fruit to be extremely sweet, but it’s usually quite sour and takes some getting used to. The sourness does go away with cooking though, so many consider it the perfect fruit for baking. I decided to give that a go today morning. It was beautiful and sunny outside, after almost a week and I just had to match that with an equally bright breakfast. Yes, you can have it for breakfast on a weekday! It's one of the quickest breakfast recipes.I Promise.

The recipe is adapted from Sarai’s recipe for baked Grapefruit on her blog “Sweet Sassafras” that I really enjoy reading. I cut the Grapefruit in half, sprinkled some brown sugar, dusted a little cinnamon, chopped a few walnuts over the flesh and popped it into the oven. It was beautiful when it came out of the oven, better than I imagined. The earthy cinnamon tones add depth to the grapefruit while the brown sugar lightens the sourness. All the flavors complement each other perfectly. I am hooked is all I can say. In addition, It’s a gluten-free-feel-good start to the day, what can be more perfect than that?



Like a piece of the Sun on my plate.



Baked Spiced Grapefruit (Adapted from Sarai's recipe on Sweet Sassafras)

Ingredients

1 Grapefruit

½ tsp brown sugar

Sprinkle of Cinnamon powder

1 Walnut – chopped into small pieces

Method

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas Mark 6. Cut the Grapefruit in half then cut around each section so that it will be easier to scoop out later. Sprinkle with the brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped walnuts. Put it on the top shelf in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes.

A spring morning at the Orchard in Grantchester

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Friday: It’s a cold rainy evening and we are having dinner with some friends. Recenty back from a backpacking trip across China they are full of stories. As the waiter starts serving green tea, John tells us about tea gardens in China. Sitting for hours in a garden sipping tea, as your cup is topped with hot water. He considers these gardens the epitome of civilization. Poles apart from the drink and dash culture in the western coffee shops. There people have the sense to sit and reflect, laugh and talk with each other. You won’t find such a thing here, he says. Here people only like to show off the Starbucks logo on their coffee cup, who is interested in actual conversation.

Well actually we have a tea garden in Cambridge too, Jamie says – The Orchard at Grantchester! Everybody laughs, but I am intrigued. Let’s go to the Orchard I say to H as we drive home. No, let’s wait for summer! It is much more beautiful then, he replies.

Sunday: It is the second last day of February and the chill is refusing to go away. Little daffodils are valiantly trying to stand up straighter against the cold wind. Then one morning the sun decides to listen to the daffodils, and shine! In the morning we wake up earlier than usual, rubbing our sleep filled eyes in surprise. The entire room is awash with sunlight – bright, sharp and cheerful.

It is simply not a day for breakfast in bed! H and I scamper into our wellies and out of the house. It is a nice day to go to the Orchard he says, as we get on our bikes. I just raise my head to the sun and smile. Grantchester has decided to call me to itself!

So off we go, cycling along the river and across the meadows. I cannot honestly say that it was at its most beautiful. Two days of continuous rain had made the path muddy and slippery. The fields looked worn and tired but there were signs of spring everywhere - swatches of purple and orange daffodils and flashes of forsythia brightened the way for us.

The orchard itself is ideally located at the end of the cycle track, providing a perfect spot to rest after cycling all the way to Grantchester. And what a grand resting point it is! They have a collection of mouthwatering pastries, cakes and the famous scones baked fresh every day and served with an assortment of jams or honey. I decided to sample a fruit scone with Morello cherry jam.

Then of course there is tea, for which the orchard is famous in the first place. Taking tea is an old tradition at the orchard, started in 1897 when a group of Cambridge students made the excursion to Grantchester and asked Mrs. Stevenson to serve them tea under the blossoming apple trees. Unknowingly on that spring morning, they had started a great Cambridge tradition. It might have looked exactly like the picture below.

But the actual credit of making the orchard famous has to go the poet Rupert Brooke. He took up lodging at the Orchard House in 1909, wanting to escape his hectic social life in Cambridge. However, Brooke was so good-looking and popular that he attracted a regular stream of visitors. Adding further appeal to the orchard was its mention in his poem “The Old Vicarage, Grantchester” which he wrote in a homesick mood in Berlin while remembering his idyllic time in Grantchester.

Contents: One Brown Memsahib

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Why do I call myself a Brown Memsahib?

I can struggle for ages and never be able to find the perfect words to explain my state of mind. Or I can just show you one image and you will know exactly how I feel. Like that in a split second!

Looking at photographer Gavin Fernandes’ work is as if somebody took a photograph inside my mind. Born in Kenya and originating from Goa in India, Gavin studied graphic design and photography in London and so the mixing of cultures is clearly visible in his work, specially his series – the Empire Line.

In Empire Line Gavin explores the powerful language of clothes and their ability to make political and cultural statements. He uses clothing to emphasize the conflict between class and caste in 19th century India ruled by the British Raj. And in the process successfully weaves the universal story of colonization into his images.

The images show women dressed in hybrid outfits with elements borrowed from both Victorian and native Indian styles. Conflict between the two sides is stark, with one style fighting to dominate the other. However, at another level, the styles blend and bleed into each other and you start looking beyond the clothing, and see the woman.

For more images from the collection visit www.gavinfernandes.com