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Contents

6 52 150 230 Foreword Classic patterns and Fujiwo Ishimoto 1970s Text Minna Kemell-Kutvonen their makers 162 232 54 Jenni Tuominen 1980s Vuokko Eskolin-Nurmesniemi 8 – simplified shapes 172 234 Living shapes and patterns Teresa Moorhouse 1990s Text Sami Sykkö 60 Annika Rimala 184 236 – equality and practicality Tuula Pöyhönen 2000s

12 68 188 Empowering Maija Isola Erja Hirvi contradictions – a life in patterns 240 Text Minna Kemell-Kutvonen Marimekko´s future patterns 14 206 Text Sami Sykkö Life springs from opposing forces 86 Marimekko in A peek behind the pattern fashion – designers in conversation Text Sami Sykkö Text Maria Härkäpää 246 36 Photos From sketch to fabric 88 Kristina Isola 220 38 60 years of Starting points 100 pattern-making history Mika Piirainen 40 222 From pattern to screen 108 The first fashion show Aino-Maija Metsola 42 224 Colorways 120 Armi Ratia Sami Ruotsalainen – Marimekko´s founder 46 Machines at work 126 226 Maija Louekari 1950s 48 Finishing touch 146 228 – final check Noora Niinikoski 1960s

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Foreword

“To be part of our everyday life and to make our every secret dream come true – no more, no less. That’s how I see Marimekko’s future.” Marimekko’s founder Armi Ratia once said these simple yet farsighted words about her company. Today her thoughts are as timely as they were back then. Now, more than ever, we are “designing” our everyday lives to keep up with the hectic pace of modern life, while hoping to realize our dreams in new, colorful ways. For more than 60 years, Marimekko has been bringing color and patterns to dinner tables, living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, and saunas. It has also clothed both mavericks and independent thinkers in myriad ways. Marimekko’s customers, past and present, have enjoyed the choice between striped or checked designs, floral patterns, or block colors, Minna Kemell-Kutvonen dressing up or dressing down. Yet in all this diversity, Marimekko has focused on what matters most – helping people express their own unique personality. This courage to bring beauty into everyday life defines Marimekko’s incredibly varied and rich visual legacy – the world of Oiva, Räsymatto, Lappuliisa, Lumimarja, Lokki, Korsi, and Unikko. . . . Each of these iconic patterns has brought joy to countless people around the world, encouraging us to enjoy every moment with fresh eyes. The men and women who designed these patterns have also worked against all odds to realize their vision. And on the way, they have brushed off cynics and doubters of every stripe. Marimekko is home to thousands of stories. This book sheds light on the current of creativity between contemporary Marimekko designers and past masters. This wellspring of ideas and inspiration continues to bring forth a wealth of everyday objects: cups and bowls, tablecloths and tableware, dresses and coats, bags and hats. The guiding light has been intuition and imagination, with experience and practicality keeping both feet on the ground. Thought and expression have flowed freely in the channel of reality, while creativity – fuelled by joy and experimentation – has always ushered us to the next destination safely. Marimekko – the many dimensions of pattern-making.

Minna Kemell-Kutvonen Creative Director Astro fabric, Jenni Tuominen, 2012.

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Living shapes and patterns

If you step into the Marimekko textile factory, feel in our everyday work. Marimekko’s designers you may notice a small and attractive teapot on the toil and rest according to its rhythms, and it is vital table. This teapot warrants a closer look, for it says to the company’s growth. Marimekko maintains a a great deal about the direction design is taking in firm commitment to creativity, despite the economic today’s Marimekko. With its harmonious proportions pressures it faces as a listed company. and intriguing union of ceramic body and wooden Design at Marimekko also exhibits a belief handle, the teapot is decidedly a thing of beauty. in passion and shows no fear of conflict – in fact, But there’s much more to it. Above all, this design Marimekko even seems to thrive on discord. Just embodies a lifestyle change, a shift in mood. take a look at our tumultuous history. Nowadays Marimekko’s design and design Passion alone cannot suffice. Intuition is also philosophy takes its cue from people’s doings, their needed. Because the creative mind cannot always be lived circumstances, alongside the task of producing guided by compass or map, Marimekko’s designers print patterns. In the past, designers first made trust intuition to guide them. Some twenty years patterns on print fabrics and then determined their ago, the company’s then managing director, Kirsti suitability for other products. Paakkanen, saw fit to put intuition back into its Designed by Sami Ruotsalainen, the teapot is rightful and respected place – at a time when called Oiva. During the design phase, there was a Finland was still wallowing deep in the recession of realization at Marimekko that tea-drinkers come the early 1990s. She did her utmost to instil faith in in different sorts – some like it green, while others her designers, even as the country’s textile industry prefer white or black. That’s why Sami decided to was slipping away to cheaper locales abroad. keep Oiva small and smart, leaving room on the Intuition is the creative person’s unseen ally, ever table for other teapots. The simple and classic design present and always ready to step up and do the job. ensured its compatibility with existing or future This happened three years ago, when Marimekko’s Marimekko patterns, so that just about any motif creative director Minna Kemell-Kutvonen chanced could adorn its sides. across a picture of a boldly expressive abstract Oiva also goes well with Marimekko’s design painting in a Swedish magazine. According to the philosophy. It doesn’t scream for your attention or caption, the artist was Astrid Sylwan. The creative try to take center stage. The teapot exudes a sense director immediately recognized Marimekko’s need Oiva tableware collection designed by Sami Ruotsalainen. Koppelo pattern, Maija Isola, 1961. of generosity – it gives you energy, rather than for that kind of creative energy. She promptly decided taking it away. At the same time it represents the to make a phone call to Sweden. core rationale behind Marimekko’s design: Oiva At the time, Astrid Sylwan had never done any simply lives – it does not try to impress you. work for a design company, but she was intrigued by Many companies are capable of producing the idea. And thus began the creative collaboration attractive cups, ladles, and clothes, but Marimekko to bring forth Vattenblänk, one of Marimekko’s most seeks to win people over with creativity. striking designs in recent years. The realization of the We would be hard pressed to find a single painting in print – a veritable tour de force – stands company today that doesn’t stress the importance of as testimony to Marimekko’s technical expertise. And creativity – they all say it’s a necessary and crucial the pattern was not confined to print fabrics – it soon investment. But at Marimekko, creativity means found its way on to bed linen and dishes. more than just a word tossed about at celebration Intuition – and experience – is also needed speeches – it is something you can see, hear, and when Marimekko designers are trying to ascertain

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Marimekko opened flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York in autumn 2011.

the place for a new form or pattern. Where does it Nowadays the majority of Finns only know the belong in the human life cycle? How can it be used? countryside through pictures or visits to summer What place or situation? Who can use and adore this cottages, and children need to be taught that milk item? For example, Sylwan’s pattern is so powerful doesn’t come from a carton but rather from cows. that it demands a lot of space around it. Marimekko – in design and pattern – has A product never goes into production until seen the people through these changes, while all © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND ASTRID SYLWAN 2010 : “VATTENBLÄNK” SYLWAN ASTRID SUOMI-FINLAND ©OYJ MARIMEKKO the decision-makers at Marimekko’s head office in the while maintaining a unique hold on nature, Helsinki’s Herttoniemi have thought long and hard steadfastly reinterpreting the rural. Nature also about the novelty in question. Will it take the design persists in the company’s patterns, gives names to company forward or will it help turn a profit? What tips the fabrics, and appears in images of the products the scale – economic gain or artistic value? And when and in fashion shows. Nature has always played a decisions are being made at Marimekko – a house of role in shaping Marimekko design. And time and passions – voices are raised and cheeks are flushed. time again Marimekko rethinks and redesigns Does Marimekko design attract a certain kind of Finnish nature in its products.

10 0% CO sensibility? Yes, it does. They are aesthetic radicals From the outset Marimekko’s approach has

who are looking to a bright future. They represent been marked by its holism. By entering our homes the vanguard, later followed by the crowd. – the wardrobe, the kitchen, the linen closet, and Marimekko has a long tradition of carefully the dinner table – Marimekko was taking part in the considering its target group. Long before the term entire life of a human being. It was a radical idea to target group even existed, the company oriented its carry out in the 1960s. Indeed, Marimekko is called products to a certain group – intelligent and well- one of the first lifestyle brands. It was only decades educated women. And what woman wouldn’t want later that other major fashion brands started to follow to count herself among those who are visible, strong, the trail blazed by Marimekko’s creator Armi Ratia. and influential, those who point the way. The lifestyle offered by Marimekko has also been Nowadays at Marimekko we no longer think about reflected in its shops and its meeting places. In the the customer’s level of education but rather about 1990s they were still dominated by shiny surfaces, her character. According to the line advocated by glass tables, and mirrors on the walls. The mood was Marimekko’s artistic director, products are now geared one of cool stylishness. Even though the architect towards people who are interpreting the past and hired to design its shops now hails from Japan, looking to the future. These are people who refuse to the rapidly internationalizing firm is committed get bored, who are surrounded by an atmosphere of to returning to its roots: shops are being made in vitality, and who are ready to think in new ways. human proportions, creating a cozy atmosphere, The birth of Marimekko coincided with the where the visitor is meant to feel at home, to be Finnish exodus from country to town. The austerity cheered and enlivened. of the city, a place of stone and brick, made people Perhaps a sign of Marimekko’s success in design yearn for the lost enchantment of the countryside. and store planning is evidenced in the words of Marimekko provided city dwellers solace on fabric shoppers who’ve stepped out of New York’s flagship – with printed images of an eternal summer, the store. As they’ve put it, simply walking into the store vivid colors of an autumn forest, and the rugged was like a dose of color therapy. crags on the archipelago. At that time, Marimekko was quick to respond to that romantic longing.

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Empowering contradictions

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Nature and Marimekko. Maja fabric, Ville Silvennoinen, 2011. Pinkka coat, Mika Piirainen, 2012.

Life springs from opposing forces

We need dark to see light, grey to grasp color, work to notice playfulness, emptiness to appreciate life. . . . These oppositions raise questions, offer answers, let us see and hear, feed creativity, and set The Unikko hot air balloon floats above Helsinki in 2011. the mood. Marimekko has always been about the visual impact of life’s many contradictions. They have, literally and figuratively, kept Marimekko alive for more than 60 years. And to this day Marimekko continues to believe in their significance. Even if their form and impact have changed over the years, the basic idea behind them still holds true.

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COPYRIGHTED: NOT AUTHORIZED FOR DISTRIBUTION © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND MIINA ÄKKIJYRKKÄ 2008 : “KEVÄTJUHLA” © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND MIINA

© MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND MAIJA ISOLA 1959 : “ISOT KIVET” ISOLA © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND MAIJA

100% CO 100% CO © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND MAIJA ISOLA 1959 : “ISOT KIVET” ISOLA © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND MAIJA ÄKKIJYRKKÄ 2008 : “KEVÄTJUHLA” © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND MIINA

Geometric Organic

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100% 100% COPYRIGHTED: NOT AUTHORIZED FOR DISTRIBUTION © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND FUJIWO ISHIMOTO 1991 : “LEPO” © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND FUJIWO ISHIMOTO

© MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND JENNI ROPE 2011 : “HUTERA” © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND JENNI ROPE 2011

100% CO 100% CO © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND JENNI ROPE 2011 : “HUTERA” © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND JENNI ROPE 2011 © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND FUJIWO ISHIMOTO 1991 : “LEPO” © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND FUJIWO ISHIMOTO

Structured Unstructured

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COPYRIGHTED: NOT AUTHORIZED FOR DISTRIBUTION © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND ANNA DANIELSSON 1999 : “FOKUS” ANNA © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND

“FANDANGO” : 1962 ISOLA © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND MAIJA 100% CO 100% CO ” FANDANGO : “ MAIJA ISOLA 1962 ISOLA MAIJA © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND DANIELSSON 1999 : “FOKUS” ANNA © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND

Decorative Graphic

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COPYRIGHTED: GUADA NOT AUTHORIZED DADEL FOR DISTRIBUTION : “ : “ TUULA KAAKINEN 2006 TUULA MAIJA LOUEKARI 2007 MAIJA © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND 100% CO 100% CO ” ” GUADA DADEL : “ : “ MAIJA LOUEKARI 2007 MAIJA KAAKINEN 2006 TUULA © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND © MARIMEKKO OYJ SUOMI-FINLAND

Urban Nature

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