marimekko...part 1

   

Marimekko is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year

The company was created during the international design revolution that came out of post war Helsinki, Finland. A woman named Armi Ratia and her husband Viljo joined other well known designers in interior, fashion, industrial and graphic design and architecture to create a new design aesthetic with clean lines, practical ingenuity and bold colorful patterns.

Many of us remember first using their  fabrics in the 1970's with stretcher bars and staple guns to decorate the walls of our first apartments, an inexpensive way to make a strong style statement.

Marimekko is popular again, with their own stores, many online sources and Crate and Barrel still carrying their products. They are launching  a flagship store on Fifth Avenue in NYC, opening in the fall of this year.

the spring/summer 2011 collection fashion show

One  Marimekko pattern is legendary. Unikko was designed in 1964 by Maija Isola.  She had designed using nature as inspiration earlier in her career but decided to exaggerate the poppy flower design. It has become a pop icon.  You can find it many forms. It is a happy design, easy to love.

to read about the history of Marimekko in a beautiful coffee table book, go here

online sources for marimekko products: alwaysmod.com, finnstyle.com, finnishgifts.com, etsy.com, kiitosmarimekko.com

images and research via always mod, home workshop, apparel fashion law, flickr, cutie gadget, this next, scandinavia-design, squid, finnish design, amazon, kiitos marimekko