Vuokko has a brand new address

There are not very many designers known only by their first name. 

Our legendary designer Vuokko Nurmesniemi, forever young and still going strong, is one of them. 

Now she has moved her shop to a new address. 

So do not go any more to Pohjois-Esplanadi to admire and buy the timeless quality of her clothes and accessories, now you find them in Korkeavuorenkatu 4, 00150 Helsinki.

Jumpsuit by Vuokko, still in production.

Vuokko´s shop is open Mon-Fri 11am-6pm, Sat 11am-3pm.

Welcome!

Photos©Paula Hietaranta

Birger Kaipiainen - beauty without boundaries

Decorative plate, 1980s.

Violets, larks, swans, pearls, roses. Butterflies, mirrors, clocks stopped at fifteen minutes past twelve, volatile portraits of beautiful women and men. Pure poetry in ceramics. 

Our beloved ceramic artist Birger Kaipiainen (1915-88) offers us now a lavish celebration for the eye and heart in EMMA, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, thanks to the collector Kyösti Kakkonen who owns a major collection of Kaipiainen´s art. 

In the chilly climate of Scandinavian design Birger Kaipiainen was a strange bird of paradise who always knew his own way and value. 

As the artist said in an interview to mark his 60th birthday, ”The imagination doesn´t cost a penny. It has no boundaries, and nobody can dictate where it changes it´s course."

Angel (sculpture, 1967).

 

Bust of Birger Kaipiainen by Michael Schilkin (1942).

Birger Kaipiainen – kuriton kaunosielu (Aesthete Extraordinaire, Birger Kaipiainen´s Ceramic Fantasies) is open until January 12th 2014 in EMMA, Ahertajantie 5, Tapiola, Espoo.
How and when to get there: www.emma.museum 
P.S. A specialty you can now buy only in EMMA is the wallpaper Kiurujen yö (Night of the Skylarks), designed in 1958 and now available in colours approved by the artist but never before this in production.

Photos©Paula Hietaranta

 

The best of Helsinki – especially for you!

Is there a more challenging job than writing a travel guide? 

It is almost impossible to get everything right, there are always some new things popping up and old ones closing down or moving to a new address. Especially in Helsinki where is now so much fun going on all the time!

Considering this I think the Finnish journalist Heidi Kalmari has done a pretty good job. The brand new Mondo Travel Guide Helsinki is now out, and it is so versatile, fresh and interesting that you should have a copy of your own, even if you are living in Helsinki. 

You can buy it in Finnish or English in a bookshop or order it straight from the publisher here:

http://verkkokauppa.a-lehdet.fi/Mondo-matkaoppaat

Also available as iPad version, perfect!

Photo©Paula Hietaranta

We are sailing...

Jacob Hashimoto: Armada (1998-2010). Mixed media.

What do we see when we see art? 

This is really a weird question, and the answer depends on the amount of our feelings and experiences. 

Yesterday I visited the Jacob Hashimoto´s exhibition at Galerie Forsblom, and suddenly I felt  a rush of happiness. 

In front of my eyes was a big room full of  hundreds of small sailing boats, moving softly on the invisible sea. 

The sight was pure beauty, illusion of freedom – something a man could and could not create. Illusion made with wood, paint, fabric, electricity, contingency, reminding us of the unknown powers of life.

Jacob Hashimoto: Armada & resent kite works until 27.7.2013 at Galerie Forsblom, Lönnrotinkatu 5, 00120 Helsinki. 

Opening hours Tue-Fri 11am-6pm, Sat 11am-4pm, Sun 12am-4pm.

Photos©Paula Hietaranta

Young Finnish fashion power

was celebrated on Friday evening in Kattilahalli, Helsinki. 

The event was Näytös 13, the annual fashion show of Fashion and Clothing Design Department of Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture. 

The show was a lovely mix of creative fireworks, innovative designs and happy colours. 

By the way - during the show the hall was fully booked-up, these pictures were taken during the rehearsal.

 

The starting collection was by the winner of Le Grand Prix du Jury Première Vision 2013 at the Hyères Fashion Festival with her Garment in Landscape collection for women: Satu Maaranen. 

Wonderful colour combinations by Hanna-Maaria Sinkkonen.

 

Illustrated ideas for men 

by Mikko Mönkkönen, Antti Peltoniemi and Anton Vartiainen.

 

Urban tribe of nomads by Elina Laitinen, Siiri Raasakka and Tiia Sirén, 
who won Le Grand Prix du Jury L´Oréal Professionnel 2012 

for their men's collection at the Hyères Fashion Festival last year.

 
And the double winner of the evening was Sophie Sälekari 
with her charming collection: she got Diesel and Aalto Award prizes. 
Congratulations! 

Photos©Paula Hietaranta

Lovely Molla Mills and her wonderful world of crocheting

This girl can crochet almost anything. For example her vases and own necklaces.

Have you ever dreamt that you could crochet?

Well, soon you are hooked.

The Finnish creative talent Molla Mills gives a facelift to this old technique and teaches you how to do it in her new book Virkkuri, just fresh from the printers and ready to become a bestseller.

You don´t even need to understand Finnish, the pictures tell all.

The book is a part of her master´s degree at Aalto University´s School of Arts, Design and Architecture.

See Molla´s works and her book in Masters of Aalto 2013 – Dreams Made Real exhibition in Kruununmakasiini, Hämeentie 39, Helsinki. It is open until 26th May Mon-Fri 12pm-8pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-6pm.

And more about Molla:

o Enjoy Molla´s interview in YLE Areena areena.yle.fi/tv/1877163/?start=16m36s

o Buy her book Virkkuri, published by Kustannusosakeyhtiö Nemo,

www.nemokustannus.fi

o Dive into Molla´s creative world here

mollasworks.tumblr.com

mollamills.com/about

virkkuri.tumblr.com

o If you want to buy Molla´s works or attend to her workshops, go to Paloni, creative design concept store, Eerikinkatu 7, Helsinki. It is open Mon-Fri 11am-7pm, Sat 11am-4pm.

http://www.paloni.fi/

Photos©Paula Hietaranta

Little Italy between Finland and Sweden

Mozzarella in carrozza con insalata di carote.

From now on to the end of September you can taste real Italy at sea: the Italian-Swedish media person, TV-cook and wild boy Paolo Roberto has designed his comfort food menu for Viking Line´s Ella´s restaurants. 

Here are some of his favorites. Perhaps they will be yours, too.

(And remember buy Paolo´s beautiful extra virgin olive oil Le Zie, Aunts, made in Maddaloni, his Italian home town.)  

Tartara di tonno.

 

Paccheri con sugo al tartufo.

 

 Crema di mascarpone con biscotti e fragole, 
torta di rabarbaro con crema di mascarpone.
 

 Photos©Paula Hietaranta

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