Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Scandinavian and finish designers

Before going to Finland i had a vague notion about how important and great are the scandinavian designers. Of course, i knew about the scandinavian minimalistical furniture, and i visited many times Ikea shops. But that was about it...

But what it striked me in Finland is how great really the finish and scandinavian designers really are. And i am not talking only about clothes, but also furniture, interior decorations and textiles. To define in few words the scandinavian style: simple, even minimalistical, practical, with clean cuts. The beauty of their products does not relay in details like embroidery, but in its own shape. The clothes are usual plain, but with an eye catching form. The same thing about other objects.

Wandering through Helsinki at first, and then in Jyvaskyla and Tampere, i came out with a top of what i liked best:

O.i.s scandinavian wear

It is a high street store, with clothes for both men and women. The clothes are extremely simple, yet very complicated, with unexpected straigh cuts, usualy in plain colors. You can see in my previous post a lovely baby doll navy dress i bought from O.i.s. It is not the only thing (he!he!) bought from them, and luckly for me they even still had sales...

Somehow, their clothes reminded me of Roland Mouret's clothes...

The only sad thing is i can't find their website to show you exactly what i am talking about here!

Iittala :: http://www.iittala.com/

Iittala is a major driving force of Scandinavian design with legendary designers Kaj Franck (1911-1989) and Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) as the cornerstones for the brand. You can find a complete range of products for dining and decorating, whether in metal, wood, porcelain or glass. Iittala objects are design essentials stripped to their core; the pure union of function, form and quality that demonstrates our core philosophy of lasting everyday design against throwawayism. Several designers are involved in creating the unique forms of iittala objects.

Alvar Aalto is of course the most important, a great name in architecture and design. A separate collection is dedicated to his legendary shape, the aalto vase, that has become one of the world’s most famous glass objects, deservedly synonymous with Finnish glass art and with Iittala. It is exhibited in some of the world’s most important design museums. As is typical with a great work of art, the shape has been reinterpreted ever since.

I bought a lovely small bowl, pictured above. It will look great on my coffee table, full with peanuts or other snacks :)



Marimekko :: http://www.marimekko.com/eng

Marimekko designs were another love at first sight in Helsinki. Our hotel was situated right near a huge Marimekko shop, and i was mesmerized by the beautiful prints they had.
As stated in their website, Marimekko Corporation is a leading Finnish textile and clothing design company that was established in 1951. The company designs, manufactures and markets high-quality clothing, interior decoration textiles, bags and other accessories under the Marimekko brand, both in Finland and abroad.

Besides their unique clothes, created by a group of interesting finnish designers, i also liked their bed sheets, in bright colors and with fun prints, from floral ones to funny cartoons.



Because when traveling by plane i have a real space problem in my luggage, i could'n buy bed sheets, and i content myself with some cute towels and a lovely colorful skirt.



Check out bellow some window's displays from the Marimekko store in Helsinki:







Aarika :: http://www.aarikka.fi/

Aarika is another great shop i visited while in Helsinki. You can buy from here interesting jewelry, original, distinctive clothes, textiles and decorations.
From their website:
"Aarikka Oy is a family business founded in 1954. The company designs and manufactures design products, jewellery and decorative items. Each product is a unique item handmade in Finland using Finnish materials. During the past five decades, Aarikka has not only employed its own designers, but has also commissioned works from leading Finnish designers, such as Aino FavĂ©n, Jorma Vennola, Jukka Rintala, Tuula Falck, Markku Salo and Paola Suhonen. Each designer has left his or her impression on Aarikka´s design language."

What i really wanted to buy was a reindeer black t-shirt, but i had no luck, only big sized were left.



Instead, i bought a funny wooden piece of jewelry: the Katti pin, representing a stylized cat.



artek :: http://www.artek.fi/

A great shop for furniture, renowned as one of the most innovative contributions to modern design. Some of Artek's most famous products are the furniture, lamps and textiles designed by famous Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

These are all funny picture Sc andinavian and finish disgners .

Anonymous said...

Hello there
Nice to read about your thoughts about scandinavian design.
I would like to invite you to my webshop with another kind of style of the scandinavian heritage.

www.4vikings.com

Welcome
Anna

Anonymous said...

I'm from Finland and just stumbled across your blog - I'm SO happy that you like "our" designs!:)