Status Updates From Marimekko: The Art of Print...

It is refreshing to be in the POV of another country and what they value (joy, happiness, modernity)

This book gives a general overview of marimekkos roots and history, some of its most distinct Ing patterns
It’s been delicious looking through the graphics of work and understanding its essence of inspiration. It brings me to mind that at the other side of the world there is such a distinct and different experience, different sorts of plants that I don’t witness in a tropical country.

As one of the hundreds of thousands of Finn’s displaced by the war armi understood better than most the importance of home, and the sense of wholeness and security that comes from having a place to call one’s own.
THE IMPORTANCE OF HOME AS YOUR OWN SANCTUARY HAS NOT GONE ANYWHERE
I think that it’s even further accentuated with the pandemic and overall uncertainty in the world

Data did not drive Armi, instinct did

Marimekko’s mission was, and is born of the marriage of bauhaus ideals and Finnish culture: to bring hope and joy in everyday life through timeless designs

It is increasingly focused on how it can be a better tenant on earth
“We really want to be good for the planet”

Everyday joys are informal and familiar
Beauty is very necessary
It’s possible to find beauty in the simple things of home rather than in fancy possessions

There is more of a need today for coming back to simplicity, observed armi in tumultuous year of 1972
I see the need all around - people baking their own bread, handcrafting
It’s simplicity and truth in confused by the complexity of the external word
As digital technology makes the world more accessible SO THE LONGING FOR AUTHENTICITY AND HUMAN CONNECTION GROWS

A love of nature has been at the core of marimekko from the start
The details of flora and fauna to landscapes, weather systems and the seasons
Designers have sought to capture something of the movement and feel the natural world in cloth

Eskolin painted piccolo’s stripe by hand, rendering them perfectly imperfect

For art to be part of our life we must live with it, not just to go museums

Bouquets, markets and whole fields of flowers have follow maija isola’s famous poppy into the marimekko archive ranges from unruly, exuberant blooms to the simplest posies
Marimekko’s flowers do not aim to compete with nature
BUT TO REINTERPRET AND COMPLEMENT ITS BEAUTY AND VARIETY

Vuokko favoured graphic, geometric silhouettes that freed the body, provided comfort and ALLOWED FOR MOTION
and designed them for INDEPENDENT WOMEN
Like armi and herself who wanted garments that KEPT PACE with their increasingly liberated lifestyles

Whereas designers may evolve silhouettes and narratives every six months or less
Armi wasn’t speaking to a passing moment, modern clothes that would never be out of style and would brighten every day

Although marimekko clothing has intersected with fashion
Armi always insisted that garments were art of a larger lifestyle concept
She though of garments in relationship to spaces and always CONSUMED WITH THE IDEA OF A HOME
Saw a dress as sort of a hour for the body

The company logo is in fact an easy to read variant of the Olivetti typewriter font
There must be absolute honesty of design
We look neither to the east nor to ge west for inspiration but try to express something characteristically Finnish

This blurring of lines between fine and decorative art
Graphic and textile design
Can be seen as an extension of the multidisciplinary Bauhaus approach

“Marimekko was loose and it’s battle cry was freedom”

Our clothes must be loose and express movement, they are part of modern interiors and modern life

The brands focus on timeless, empowering designs
Marimekko’s own garments are known for their NATURAL, UNCOMPLICATED STYLE MADE TO LAST and similar in spirit to their print designs

These patterns have been translated into dresses, shirts, curtains, tableware
THEY ARE MADE TO BE LIVED WITH EVERYDAY

WHY DIRTY UP A PIECE OF WHITE CLOTH UNLESS YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY?

Nature is an all important unifier at marimekko and Finnish culture
It has been conjured by print artists in realistic and abstract ways
Unikko is one example of a figurative print, in other, more rigid designs armi saw “geometrics of the earth”
Sometimes the elements of nature in a design are indicated less by the pattern, more for its title such as Kivet and Maisema

Themes were
Floral, minimal, architecture, nature, folklore, storytelling or traditional crafts and decorative arts
(What would then be relevant from my background?)

Meaning is prioritised over mere decoration.
Print was a language without words
Armi’s belief in the Bauhaus idea of art as a key component of everyday life kept her feet on the ground