Thursday, September 22, 2011

New Fashion in Finland, part 3: Daniel Palillo KIDS

Hello you proud parents of the little monsters!
Our dear Daniel Palillo has made a lovely collection of kid´s clothes we have been waiting for months. But alas, you can buy only a few of them in Finland, in the shop called Helsinki 10.
You lucky ones in Hong Kong have New Kids on the Block on your doorstep. There are also a couple of shops in USA and Taiwan where to find them.
(And hi, Daniel, if you are reading this: my own size is still 158-162 cm.)
More info on the page http://danielpalillo.blogspot.com/

 

Thursday, September 15, 2011

New light in Habitare Helsinki


The family of trash designer Henrik Enbom has eaten a lot of canned tomatoes. Yes, he made these lampshades from the tins. Photo © Paula Hietaranta
Habitare is a HUGE exhibition of furniture, interior design, art, antiques and design in Helsinki open until Sunday 18th September at Helsingin Messukeskus.
An overwhelming experience to see in one day, especially if you get stuck to one place.
That happened to me. Trash Design home is so full of happy recycling ideas how to turn rejected things into something new that I stayed there for a long time.
Trash Design is a baby of journalist Isa Kukkapuro-Enbom and her husband, designer Henrik Enbom.
Both go for a sustainable open source design: you can buy Henrik´s LdS (Licht der Stiftung) lamp which got last year a shared first prize in Habitare Ecodesign competion, but you can also make this lamp by yourself. The instructions are in Trash Magazine´s The First Issue, 2011. You can read it in the net, and there is also the English translation:




I liked also a lot this flickering radio-fireplace Fire Play designed by Jaakko Leeve. Photo © Paula Hietaranta

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Gallery news from Helsinki

First day of September there were two new art galleries opened in Helsinki.
Pick Me Gallery looks like someone´s living room but is really a concept shop offering photography, production and motion design services.
Address is Iso-Roobertinkatu 48. 00120 Helsinki. Open Mon-Fri 10 ap – 5 pm.

  
Kalhama & Piippo gallery has opened a new spacious, even luxurious space at Bulevardi street.
The opening exhibition is Jukka Korkeila´s Minä en kuulu vain itselleni (open until 2nd October). The painting of a man in a red wrestler´s jersey is titled Fall.
Gallery Kalhama & Piippo Contemporary Ltd, Bulevardi 10 A 1 a, 00120 Helsinki. Open  Tue-Fri 11 am-5 pm, Sat-Sun 11 am-4 pm. 


Friday, September 9, 2011

Our Son is ready to conquer the world


Policeman Volander (Rauno Ahonen) and Ville (Hannes Suominen) trying to reach the core of despair. Photo by Charlotte Estman-Wennström.

Terror, death, school shootings – the explosive despair of young men has been in the news all over the world during last years.
It is also the subject of Meidän poika (Our Son), a new and important play by Pasi Lampela at Helsingin Kaupunginteatteri. It is more topical than ever, and  should be seen even abroad. Those desperate boys are not only the names in the news; they are closer than we think. They are our sons, our neighbours, they live in our cities, in our country and in our world.
Ville is clumsy but an intelligent boy, doing well at school – and bullied by his classmates. To revenge Ville constructs a bomb, but he is also a bomb himself. People around him realise that there is something terribly wrong in him, but don´t know how to deal with it before it turns into tragedy. To his mother Ville says everything is fine, and which mother would like to believe it even if she knows that it is not true?
To me the essence of the play was the question how to prevent things like these happening. With open eyes, with open heart? Those moments of mutual understanding are so rare and delicate as we can see even in this play.
At the end the policeman who has failed in helping Ville understands that he and we all are responsible: ”Where to find the magic word that could put an end to this?”