A look at the shoes (and feet)

Embroidered women´s silk boots for bounded feet, Qing, 1700-1800-century, 14 x 13 cm (China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou. EMMA Museum, Espoo) and Aki Choklat for Lahtiset, size 40.

Lately I have been thinking a lot of women´s shoes and feet.

It started with Mirja Tervos´s book Huimaavat korot, a study about designer shoes, seen from the floor perspective of a seller in an expensive shoe salon in New York. There the shoes mean a lot to the ego and even more to the wallet. And a lot of suffering, too, because the high heels are extremely cruel to the anatomy of feet. Why are modern women willing to destroy their health for vanity?

From that point of view it was interesting to see a parallel study: a documentary Footbinding – The Search for the Three Inch Golden Lotus by Yue-Qing Yang. The over thousand year old tradition of footbinding was banned in China in 1911 but practiced to the 1930s. Why? There are many reasons but one of them is that was regarded to be a valuable asset to get the girl married – even now Chinese men interviewed in this film think that tiny feet make a girl more desirable. The film is a part of the new exhibition 100% Silk – Story of Chinese Silk that opened on Tuesday in EMMA, Espoo Museum of Modern Art.

Then a completely different look at the shoe and binding I saw on Wednesday in Helsinki when the Finnish felt boot factory Huopaliike Lahtinen showed some examples of Aki Choklat´s felt shoe design. These boots with orange straps are kind to feet and look smart as well. They are even comforting to look at.

Alzheimer and the artist

It is a comedy and it is a tragedy. It is comforting and frightening at the same time. And it is called life. It is amazing how much you can tell by drawing a comic book that at the end is not so comic any more.
Ryppyjä (Wrinkles, WSOY 2010) by a Spanish author Paco Roca tells beautifully what growing old can mean in the Western society. It is a book than can perhaps learn us to appreciate those moments with our beloved ones before it is too late, before they disappear to the world where memories are the only reality.

From Nummela with love

Saving the world is not easy. It is more difficult than eating an elephant. But do you know how to succeed in it? Bite by bite.
The designer Seija Lukkala has been working hard since 2003 to make the world better. Her Globe Hope Ltd. is perhaps the most well-known Finnish ecological design company with the lovely slogan ”The world does not suffer from the lack of material but the lack of mind”.
The idea of giving a new life to used materials and products by transforming them to clothes and accessories – and selling them, too - has not always been so easy but now the future looks bright. The demand for the sustainable design is growing as we are more and more aware of the significance of our decisions.
In May Globe Hope arrived in Helsinki and opened it´s first shop in Lasipalatsi building. Just drop in and see yourself. Even the interior is old: the old furnitures of Nokia rubber boot factory! You find there also the funny Secco products – the company was recently bought by Globe Hope.
Opening times are Mo-Fr from 10 am to 8 pm, Sat from 10 am to 6 pm.

When small becomes truly monumental

Pentti Sammallahti: Helsinki Finland, 1983.

Yesterday evening we met a happy man in the Finnish Museum of Photography. He was wearing a white shirt stained with red wine, smoking cigars, chatting with people. And smiling. He was Pentti Sammallahti, and this was his big night: the exhibition opening of his life´s work. A selection of hundreds of photographs. Nowadays, when the photography fashion seems to favour the size of the pictures instead of the content, it is a relief to see Pentti´s honest work full of love and deep respect. Most of his photographs are tiny and reveal their secret only to a good eyesight, so take a magnifying glass with you or do – as somebody told me the master himself sometimes does: put two Tiimari glasses at the same time on your nose.
The exhibition is open until 27.2.2011 in Cable Factory, Tallberginkatu 1 G.

Reusing rocks

Our new lamp comes from a friend who had her home fully renovated and noticed after that she had things she didn´t need any more. – Today we have a flea market with the difference that all things are for free. Come and get what you want, she invited. My choice was this lamp. It does not only lighten our home but also keeps the nice gesture in mind. Thank you so much, dear Ms C!

A new light in the cellar

Creativity is something you cannot buy, borrow or steal. You either have it or haven´t. One of the truly creative spirits in Finland is the designer Hanna Sarén. The world may praise her, kick her but at the end you have to love her: her imagination and her wonderful sense of quality, beauty and lovely humour.
Now after some silent months the multi-talented couple Jussi Tiilikka-Hanna Sarén has started a new project that is more than shoes, clothes and accessories. It is a new publishing platform called The Broadsheet offering you design news, opinions, interviews and products to buy. You find it in http://hannasaren.net
And of course Hanna is designing clothes and shoes as well. More to follow...
The address of the new studio/showroom/workplace is Korkeavuorenkatu 2 b cellar, 00140 Helsinki. Just for your information: it you wanna visit it, is open from Mondays to Fridays at 11 am to 4 pm.

Brand new church art

The Weeping Women of Jerusalem by Kuutti Lavonen.

It is not common that something good comes from the bad. When an arsonist destroyed in September 1997 the roof and the interior of St. Olaf’s medieval church in Tyrvää, who would have believed that the church would be reopened twelve years later fully reconstructed and perhaps more impressive than ever. The paintings in the church are made by two artists, Kuutti Lavonen and Osmo Rauhala. Those artists have never exactly been my favourites, but in this church their work is really touching. And the famous shingle roof, carved by hand after the 1748 original design by Antti Piimänen, is so beautiful it almost takes your breath away. The amazing amount of 32 810 aspen shingles cover the roof like a black lace.
If you want to see the church this year, you have better to hurry. The church is open to the public in September only on Sundays from 11 am to 6 pm. Then it will be hibernating until the next summer.