Pacifiers in Lill Skansen

Sunbathing mega relaxed happiest fox ever! My favourite.

Sunbathing seal

+20°C

30 years old, own Easter holiday and spring break in Stockholm, husband left home in Helsinki. What would you do? Well, I went to Skansen, a true baby buster trap. May I call myself a trendsetter? SO last season to party hard or avoid animals and kids! Eh.      

Mini people from all over the country make the pilgrimage to Skansen to throw away their pacifiers. "To leave behind babyhood and to start the kiddyhood". I wanted to see this.

Touching to watch. Those fearful eyes, panic, and then – big release and some baby animal caress.

It all started many many years ago, when one mother visited Lill Skansen with her children and courage her babies to give their pacifiers to the homeless kittens.
Among the other baby animals, there is a fenced-in area for leftover homeless kitty-cats, that people have delivered to Skansen personal. From all over the country.

After this first mummy, there has been thousands of families who come to Skansen to complete this ritual (In 2000, 11,873 pacifiers).

BUT the most inspiring thing for me, after all, was the scandinavian animal's ability to enjoy of those very first sunbeams right away. They seemed to forget everything else and totally concentrate on sun, warmth and their wellness. Nice prioritisation and so healthy thinking! Only watching those relaxed, happy and beautiful creatures made me super glad. 

"Sverigebilden 2.0" and Alexander Stubb's country brand delegation. Nation branding is the traditional brand management's new black.

Dagens Nyheter released updated adjectives to sell Sweden on Easter.
Some of Stubb's delegation members has been mentioned in the latest issues of Image and Monocle.

My passion is that Werklig would somehow/somewhere/someday get involved in national image creating. My worry is delegation's true resources.

The members are President Esko Aho, Director Paulina Ahokas, President and CEO Eija Ailasmaa, President and CEO Jukka Hienonen, Director Jan Hultin, President and CEO Mika Ihamuotila, Professor Laura Kolbe, author, MEP Lasse Lehtinen, Chancellor Ilkka Niiniluoto, CEO René Nyberg, foreign correspondent Helena Petäistö, communication consultant Kirsi Piha, artist Osmo Rauhala, athlete Aki Riihilahti, CEO Kai Seikku, Director General Petri Tuomi-Nikula and Permanent Secretary Erkki Virtanen.

Do these people really have the time and energy to get down from the ivory tower and really feel Finland? Do the streets, spots and events where the true life and "the product" is? For me they seem to be busy people with their own ambitious businesses.

I day dream constantly on taking Stubb’s delegation to Candytour. Originally Stockholm’s Candyland’s genious concept. The gallery/collective organizes art tours with a charter bus. Red pillbox hats, uniforms, simple box lunch. Direction: suburb. They contact locals beforehand and the citizens are welcome to participate via their own performances. Once a girl read poems in her balcony and one other time more accidentally three guys gave a performance peeing together in a beautiful line figure. Passengers watched ”act” delighted from the bus.

I would fill bus with our multi talented friends; young designers, writers, artists, thinktankers, entrepreneurs, architects, etc. to hc network with Ollila’s team. There would be Bulgaria’s Finland A-Ös, their both Helsinki books and Kasino A4s in a back rest pockets.
 
The delegation’s term began on 16 September 2008 and ends on 31 December 2010. read and write more comments here.

As you may know, many of the mobile devices carry a function that allows users to point their cameras to 2D code (QR code) and be directed to a certain web address.

Japanese agency called SET has been collaborated with Louis Vuitton and world-aknowledged Takashi Furakami to create first ever designed QR code. The code below should function with most mobile devices. Go ahead, try it with your barcode reader or such and enjoy the collaboration with those two aforementioned style leaders. 

Legendary snowboard brand Burton (burton.com) has always been the leader when designing new products or even controversial graphics. Company founded in 1977 by Jake Burton Carpenter has adapted the designs of a Herman Miller chair to its CO2 binding. 

Aeron Chair by Herman Miller (Courtesy of Herman Miller)

Burton CO2 binding (Courtesy of Burton Snowboards)

Fast Company has written an article about this. It gives you more information about those letters on the products.  

Another lesson that good design can be universal.  

  Some Easter eggs decorated by my goddaughter Iiris and the rest of my family.

The tale of Halle and Tiva is always current. I saw the exhibition of these two hilarious Finnish modernists in Ateneum 2005. After that I have seen the whole Viiskulma area in new, nostalgic and very very poetic light.

Sulho Sipilä = Halle (1895-1949) and Greta Hällfors-Sipilä = Tiva (1899-1974) were the most enthusiastic art snoop dogs in Finland when 'one Modernist movement after another washed over the Finnish art scene'. Coolest avant-gardists in the local art history! 

The two artists lived at Viiskulma. Their biggest inspiration were those very same urban motives we still find interesting in totally different world: Johannes Church nearby, the park, playing field, scenes from holidays, biking and bathing. City life and townscapes & every-day life – its' festivities with all joys and sorrows. Multitalented couple who loved to organize get-togethers and dinner parties at their home. Music was a special bond between them (cf. indie kids in town, Five Corner's Quintet romanticism). 

The story of their love and art took a deeply tragic turn in the end. I think Tiva must have had similar thoughts in her sensitive mind than Diane Arbus described in one letter in 1968, before she took her life:

"...att hon i ena stunden fylldes av så mycket glädje och entusiasm att hon nästan tappade andan, bara för att sedan förlora all energi och bli så trött att allting plötsligt
bara skrämde henne."

I want to share some of the finest Halle and Tiva scenes with you, before we move to Kruununhaka. If i'm not going to miss our old office (because the new one is so fancy), i'm defenitely going to miss The tale of Halle and Tiva – magical moments at Viiskulma. 

  Greta Hällfors-Sipilä. Saman päivän iltana. Björn ja Fagi laulavat gluntteja, 1930

Greta Hällfors-Sipilä, Johanneksen kirkko, n.1918

Greta Hällfors-Sipilä, Tiva ja Halle matkalla uimaan Mynämäessä, 1927. Gretan kuvapäiväkirja

Sulho Sipilä, Huikopalaa Gretan syntymäpäivän iltana, 1930. Gretan kuvapäiväkirja

Source: Soili Sinisalo, Hallen ja Tivan Tarina (english summary), WSOY.

Pictures: Scanned from the book

I was updating my knowledge of what is taking place in the world of media. I chose two following lectures of the weekend's programme:

#1 Liisa Jokinen from Hel Looks hosted a very vibrant panel discussion with fashion bloggers Minttu Paakkulainen from Stockholm, Vesa Silver from Stara.fi, Stella Hasarek and fashion blogger Johanna Piispa.

#2 Janne Matikainen, researcher at the University of Helsinki, Department of Communication gave a presentation about bloggers´ behavior and motives.

MY NOTES:

• 23,8 % of the world population use internet. Consequently, we should understand that blogging is a luxurious hobby. And I say hobby, because according to Janne Matikainen's research, bloggers see their behavior mostly as that. 

• In the whole media cake, the time used for blogging is taking a slice from TV viewing. Mags and blogs can much easier live hand in hand and support each other. Blogs are seen as sources for fashion journalists and vice versa. Fashion bloggers and their bibles. Like the fanatic old school graphic designers, print pros and lovers can see it: Seriously deep mag love that is epitomized in the feel and the smell of the print product.

• Traditional media tries to steal originality and style from bloggers. They are ready to do furious and massive invests attempting to be as cool, original and laid back just to reach and change people's steps and paths on the web. This just to influence consumers.  

• Fair play is not necessary on the agenda when corporations contact independent fashion bloggers and offer different kinds of deals or products. I heard a really funny (or sad) story about an electric tooth brush manufacturer who had contacted one of the fashion bloggers.  

• Blogs and blogging in general are seen as a very trendy subject for thesis. However, bloggers reminded anxious students, that blogging starts to feel more like work if they would answer all those open – explain freely in your own words – questions from graduating BAs & MAs.

• The strength of a blog lies in its humanity.

• Traditional celebrities are lost in the blog world. Being or becoming a web celeb has totally different terms compared to being a or becoming a traditional accredited celeb. 

• In the Finnish blogosphere the correct language, spelling and high quality of photos are bases for any kind of respect and success. They are the cherries on top! (My fluent Euro English. eh. So NOT way to go?)  

As previously written, our designer Inka Järvinen was shortlisted in two categories in the Vuoden Huiput awards. Yesterday she won the other – Young Creative award – and got silver price in other, Picture and Photography-category. Both awards were received from her work to Disco Ensemble. More information about the Vuoden Huiput and the awards can be found from Grafia's page. (in Finnish)

Congratulations!

Inka with the Ladder award, given to Young Creative of the Year.