New wind in the old sails

Big weekend bag JOTO is made of sails and army fabrics, 

with a little details of red. Price 145 euros.

Good design is the only respectable way to sell products made of recycled materials. Add to that well made realization, and you have something that is a privilege to buy.

Anssi Tuupainen is one of my favorite Finnish designers, a guy behind Turo Tailor´s men´s clothing line Red Label. Now he has designed a summer bag collection for Globe Hope, a company making ecological design of recycled materials. Here you see two examples of the collection.

These bags can speak, too. Let´s hear what BAHARI has to say: - Ahoy there! I’m Bahari – Swahili for sea. I was born to sail and that’s what I spent my previous life doing. Now I enjoy the dry land adventures as well as being on the sea. I’m made of and old sail and decorated with bits and pieces of army fabrics. My drawstring mouth is an original army sack detail and my shoulder strap rope has a lot of sea milage behind it. I’m hungry for your essentials – I can fit in a lot - and I promise to keep them safe.

Price of Bahari is 115 euros.

Read also the thoughts of Globe Hope CEO Seija Lukkala about Summer 2014 African theme in her blog Recyclandia (and note that a part of this collections profits are donated to charity, this year to The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Missions Shepherd girl project that helps the education of young Masai girls i.e. in the area of Morogoro).

http://www.globehope.com/en/blogi/summer-2014/ 

For more info about the company and the addresses of shops and resellers in Finland and all around the world go here http://www.globehope.com/en

The magic of old Finnish houses

Have you ever wished to get an invitation to an beautiful old Finnish house?

Now you have your chance. 

Author Pia Maria Montonen and photographer Niclas Warius made a book Rakkaudesta vanhaan taloon (In love with an old house) that opens to you the charm and soul of those old houses kept and preserved with love and respect by their new owners.

They have understood to protect the originality and history of the house which means also that you have to accept it´s minor defects. OK, the leaking roof has to be repaired but floors can perhaps stay a bit slanting...

Because you do not own the old house, you just  take care of it for future generations.

The interior of Pia Maria´s summer house. The house was drawn by her own grandmother.

The owner of this kitchen knows how to give a new life to old things. Pans and pots are hanging from a rack found in the attic.

The muted blue colours create a peaceful tone to the photographer´s own tiny house.

Pia Maria Montonen – Niclas Warius: Rakkaudesta vanhaan taloon (Maahenki), 192 pages.

http://www.maahenki.fi/tuote/786/rakkaudesta-vanhaan-taloon

To follow: Acolyth

If you want to dress like the majority, do not go there.

However, if you want high quality clothing with fresh ideas and multiple uses, bold and unique, sometimes even a bit crazy, your shop is Acolyth.

There in designers´ fashion shop you find things that are interesting now and tomorrow. Among international and Finnish brands are for example Daniel Palillo who is more famous abroad than in Finland, Dusty by Marjut Uotila, Kowtow from New Zealand, Odeur from Sweden.

The owner and soul of the shop is Joonas Saari, a designer himself, who has nowadays less and less  time for his own creative work.

Acolyth has now a new address in Fredrikinkatu 24, 00120 Helsinki. The shop is open Mon-Fri 11 am to 7 pm, Sat from 11 am to 4 pm.

If you are not in Helsinki, you can go shopping in  Acolyth anyway! The address of the webshop is  http://www.acolyth.fi/

There you find also the interesting stories behind the labels.

Swedish men´s fashion brand Common.

Dusty SS2014: ”Enchanted Brother”.

Unisex clothing by Daniel Palillo.

Hide & Seek Cardigan, my favorite from Kowtow organic cotton collection. 

And I want the shoes, too!

Balmuir pops up in Helsinki

The Finnish luxury label Balmuir opened yesterday a pop up shop in Helsinki. There you can see and feel a lovely collection of the quality textiles and home accessories. Simply said: temptations.

New trunks and notebooks are covered with pony leather.

Heidi and Juha Jaara, the owners of Balmuir, are still living in Oulu. Working hard and with joy the couple has in few years made Balmuir a well known brand all over the world, and it´s future looks more than promising. Quality, lovely designs and sustainable working ideas are their key to success.
Heidi Jaara is Balmuir´s managing director and designer. And a mother: the couple has two small children.
”Actually we have three children, Balmuir was our first child”, Heidi laughs.

But hurry - the pop up shop is there only two weeks until April 16th!
Address is Galleria Esplanad, Pohjoisesplanadi 33, 1st floor. Opening hours are Mon-Fri 10 am-7pm, Sat 10 am-5 pm.
PS. The new Balmuir web shop is on it´s way and opening before summer. Stay tuned.

Photos©Paula Hietaranta

North from Eden

You might know that the short and often chilly summer in Finland poses challenges to the gardening, but love – it has no boundaries.The new documentary Eedenistä pohjoiseen by Virpi Suutari is not about seeds or flowers or flower beds or gardens. It is about love. 

The film shows us Finnish couples who love gardening and love each other. It is full of feelings from craziness to tears, from tender togetherness to sweet loss. It shows us the lovely Northern nights when the sun hardly sets (yes, you can weed even then) and the joy of buying plants and bushes, not clothes (in gardens of Eden you can go naked).

Eedenistä pohjoiseen (Garden Lovers) won a few weeks ago the main prize in Tampere Film Festival in the over 30 minutes category.

Now in cinemas in Finland and let´s hope soon all over the world!

Get a taste of the film here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV2kMMfPkv0

Eedenistä pohjoiseen | www.finnkino.fi

The perfect traffic jam

Good morning!

I bet this layered apricot, gooseberry and strawberry jam is the sweetest traffic jam you ever tasted!

It is avallable in Anton & Anton, a Helsinki based food market for people who appreciate good, fresh food, carefully chosen producers and seasonal ingredients, both from Finland and abroad - simply healthy quality food available in your neigborhood! (Or sent to you on order.)

Now Anton & Anton has three shops in Helsinki. New one just opened in Ullanlinna, Kapteeninkatu 26, three weeks ago.

www.antonanton.fi

Photo©Paula Hietaranta

The art adventure of colour and design

What happens when two racy creative spirits put their ideas together?

Finnish shoe designer Minna Parikka and illustrator Janine Rewell decided to create a spectacle combining the Minna Parikka SS14 shoe collection and the art of colourful body painting. 

In these pictures you see that a human body is a perfect canvas that gives a three-dimensional approach to painting. 

Who would not like to be dressed in those patterns and colours? 

And hey, look at the shoes as well!

Photos Jonas Lundqvist


Art direction and illustration Janine Rewell


Shoe design Minna Parikka


Body paint Riina Laine & Saara Sarvas


Here in this video you see how it all happened

http://minnaparikkashoes.createsend1.com/t/j-l-iyhlkkl-udijlidl-d/