Happy 60th Anniversary Marimekko

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Marimekko Flying High

These are exciting times for Marimekko, the Finnish textile company known for its bright, bold prints is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. The anniversary comes at a time when Marimekko is expanding at a rapid pace. There are already 84 Marimekko stores worldwide, seven of them opening this year alone, including a massive flagship store on New York's Fifth Avenue. Its London presence will be expanding too, with a second store opening in the coming months at Shoreditch. It is clear that Marimekko is on a roll right now. 

Founded by textile artist Ami Ratia in 1951, Marimekko came as a breath of fresh air at a time of post second world war austerity. Ratia’s idea was to supply some much-needed playfulness and fun and revitalize the dying fashion industry. The formula worked and how! At the very first Marimekko fashion show in Helsinki, women went wild for her graphic print dresses. The free flowing shift dresses were the complete opposite to the 1950s fitted, waist-pinching dresses. A shape that women embraced immediately, for it was forgiving and flattering at the same time. 

To kick start its 60th anniversary celebrations, Marimekko held a fashion show at the Esplanade Park in Helsinki. The show on a sunny May afternoon took place exactly 60 years from the fashion show that started the Marimekko story. 

The event culminated with the debut flight of the Unikko (poppy) hot-air balloon over the Helsinki silhouette.

All images courtesy Marimekko.

Indiska

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One sunny May afternoon while walking around Helsinki city centre, I went into a shopping mall on Mannerheimintie and chanced upon a store called ‘Indiska’. Now that sounds very much like India, I thought to myself. My curiosity piqued I went in to have a better look at their wares, only to find a treasure trove of bright Indian pinks, oranges, greens and blues. Gorgeous contemporary clothing, furnishings and accessories, glittering with sequins, embroidery and appliquéd mirror work. Shelves after shelves stacked with kaftans, bandgalas, embroidered jackets, stunning beads and silver jewellery. It was like finding a slice of vibrant India in Scandinavia. 

Indiska, which literally means Indian, was founded in 1901 by an enterprising Swedish woman Mathilda Hamilton She travelled to India as a pastor’s wife and lived in the Himalayas for seven years from 1894-1901, it was here that she acquired a lifelong love for all things Indian. Once back home in Sweden she opened the first store on Government Street in Stockholm and called it Indiska Utställningen (Indian Exhibition). More than 110 years later the brand is still going strong, having become synonymous with contemporary Indian style in fashion and interior design. 

The current CEO Sofie Gunolf, says “We want to convey our passion for India and it’s crafts, colors and materials. All our products are designed in-house and are a unique mix of Scandinavian design with Indian influences. In one word, Indiska is Bohemian Modern, radiating with colors, patterns and energy. We want to give our customers the opportunity to look like they feel inside and be able to decorate their homes the same way”.

All images courtesy of Indiska.

Aero Furniture Store in Helsinki

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During my stay in Helsinki, there were a number of delightful shops which I enjoyed visiting. Among them, a favourite is Aero, one of the best places to find the best of Finnish design. I can easily spend an entire day in this shop! 

Aero is an interior design store located in down town Helsinki, in the heart of the Design District. The shop displays top designs in furniture, rugs, fabrics and lighting from Finnish, Scandinavian and European manufactures. 

The store is housed in a period building with high ceilings, vintage plasterwork and beautiful tiled floors. The interior has been tastefully restored and contrasts magnificently with the sleek contemporary furniture. 

Located next to the Dianapuisto Park, bang opposite the Design Forum Shop, the store opened in 2000 and rapidly became a leader in its field, going on to became a part of Artek in 2010. 

All of these pictures are from my visit to Aero. Clearly not to be missed!

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