Camilla, the real beauty queen of Finland

This charming lady with flowers is Camilla Aho, and no, she is not a florist but a specialist in making Finnish women more beautiful.

This year is the 30th anniversary of Camilla Aho Oy, her company importing professional beauty care products and machinery, and on Tuesday there was a most wonderful garden party, which Camilla´s friends and business friends attended. It was more or less an emotional family meeting, not a stiff company celebration.

During her years in business this tiny volcano has stubbornly followed not only her head but also her heart and instincts to get the beauty clinics understand the importance of quality and safety to the customer´s wellbeing.

Finland is a small country, but in some cases big: Camilla has been chosen twice to world´s number 1 importer of Italian RVB cosmetic line.

Congratulations and hugs!

 

Many of Camilla´s clients are now her friends. Finlands´s blue and white voice 

Katri Helena gave a lovely performance at the party.
  Photos © Paula Hietaranta

Welcome Hunger King!

If you are in Helsinki this evening or during Wednesday and Friday and can visit Kamppi bus station do not miss this Hunger King stand.

Hunger King is a new artwork piece by Jani Leinonen, who really knows how to use his skills to tease, confuse and astonish people. And bring them to think.

Now he created this mock copy of a well-known hamburger chain to help Finn Church Aid get more attention and means to the starving people of the world.

There you can buy a Take Away menu to help us (= Finnish producers of organic food) or donation Give Away menu to help others. With 5,50 euros you have Nordic Special, a Karelian pie and a bottle of juice, but with 23 euros you donate a meal to a whole village. Today have the Give Away offers been more popular which is very good indeed.

Hunger King is open from 7 am to 7 pm until 1st September. 
Photo © Paula Hietaranta

New fashion in Finland, part 2: Paola Suhonen

Paola in the black lace dress from her Paola Suhonen by Seppälä collection.
 

Paola Suhonen is a household name on the Finnish design scene with her Ivana Helsinki label.
This golden girl, so full of energy, has been designing almost everything from dresses to accessories, from home textiles to ceramic mugs, from Coca Cola cans to package materials for the Posti brand, from jewellery to the decoration of HP sauce bottle.
Then a couple of years ago she left to America to learn how to make movies.
But designing clothes has not been history: last week we did celebrate in Helsinki a new party collection Paola has made for Seppälä store, and the short art noir film Gone With The River she made in July in NYC to present the clothes and her ambitious way of making films.
The dresses, which will at Seppälä shops all around Finland since the beginning of November, are perhaps not so beautiful when hanging in the shops but oh boy - wearing them makes you feel beautiful.
And this is really what counts.

 

Chiffon dress and a decorative belt.

Dress with the golden feather print.

Black velvet dress.
B/W pictures by Joel Jägerroos.

New fashion in Finland, part 1: Aki Choklat

Petritex Oy has made men´s quality shirts in Kuopio since 1973, but now it has opened a new door for a wider approad of fashion and asked designer Aki Choklat to create a whole collection for men.
Aki wants to add more colour and joyfulness into men´s clothing and succees in it beautifully by translating the tradition of quality into today, adding to it his clever sense of well-thought and versatile details.
His Fashion Democracy S/S 2012 Petrifun collection was shown yesterday on schooner Briggen Gerda and presented true to it´s name lovely clothes worn by real men of all sizes, not whippet thin male models, all styled skillfully by Teri Niitti. Amazing what colours, fitting sizes and a choice of accessories can do! There were guys I found hard to recognize, even if I know them quite well!

So the fashion weather forecast for next spring promises sunshine, fresh winds and good temperature to Finnish (and also to foreign) men.

I know that many men are a bit shy in choosing and wearing strong colours, but hopefully they learn. And learn something about them as well: these clothes are made for men who appreciate themselves.

  

Stylish fellows on board: designer Aki Choklat and chef Antto Melasniemi. By the way, where did Antto get his gorgeous tan – working at his fashionable Solar Kitchen?
Photos © Paula Hietaranta

Elina, who are you?

Eleanor Coppola´s Circle of Life – an amazing work of art at Fotografiska in Stockholm.

I saw it one month ago and it touched me so deeply that it was impossible to write about it.

Today I saw a comment by Elina on the net, praising the exhibition, and I remembered it again.

It is possible that she is not the Elina I saw on this note, telling that it – whatever it was – may have been for the best.

But after seeing so much useless words and meaningless speech and empty pictures everywhere remembering the exhibition gave me a strong feeling of togetherness, the value of caring and sharing.

Is there something more important?

Fotografiska Stockholm, until 21st of August.

http://en.fotografiska.eu/About-us

Dark Zone of Hannes Heikura

Keskuskatu, 24.03.2010 klo 12.08 © Hannes Heikura.

Award-winning photographer Hannes Heikura has been my idol for ages. His honest way of seeing and capturing the moment has always been impressive – you could be at his side and not see what he saw. This lone wolf also chose very stubbornly the pictures he wanted to get published which certainly did not always please his employer, Finland´s biggest daily newspaper.

Since spring 2010 Hannes Heikura has been a freelancer. Now he shows his first art photo exhibition in Helsinki.

Dark Zone is a collection of powerful B/W pictures, taken during a year in the streets of Helsinki. Their quality is suberb - printed photos can never have the same intensity as the real ones, mounted on aluminium. There black is blacker than black and the rays of light shine like rays of hope.

They are fine pictures, but why I was a little disappointed? Why did I see them in context to newspaper, not as works of art?

Dark Zone in Helsinki Art Museum Salomonkatu 15, 00100 Helsinki, near Kamppi metro station. Open Tue-Sun 11-19 until 4th September.

Finnish summer beauties

Lush green forests and fields, small rivers, lakes, beautiful old houses - if you want to see the Finnish summer at it´s best go to Perniö.

At the number 1841 Perniöntie you´ll find this home housing during the summer lovely art by the daughters of sculptor Armas Hutri. On the first floor Eila Naukkarinen shows her rose watercolours and upstairs are the elegant fashion miniatures by Kaija Rosma, this time painted also with flaming colours.  

And in a smaller building there is a selection of C-prints by Kira Gluschkoff, one of our best known fashion photographers. Here she shows her fashion photos and portraits – a fine combination of power, humour and tenderness.

At the opening night the weather and the artists Kaija and Kira were smiling.
Lightnings exhibition at Perniön taidetalo Pyynpivo, Perniöntie 1841, 25520 Perniö. Open Thu-Sun from 12-18 until 7th of August.