I'm on maternity leave. Housewifing & hanging around with my son.

We have been doing fun stuff lately – Anna Tuori's exhibition, both Ihana Kahvila and Lapin Kulta Solar kitchen opening parties, driving range & putt training days at Master golf, Flow festival and met people we like, because from time to time I get this acute need to talk about design between changing diapers and cleaning milk pukes around.

On days like these i call a friend and invite myself to visit one's studio/office to keep my head clear and follow (of course I always have proper bringings with me. Take-away lunch, delicacies etc.).

Earlier this summer I took Bond Agency's Jesper Bange out to park lunch. Illustrator Sanna Mander I meet regularly and we talk about Sweden and Swedish society, interior decoration, styles and life coach each other – Mostly Sanna advice me on maternity, I try to courage her to get organized and schedule her days and weeks better.

Last week I visited designer Saara Renvall's studio at Helsinki Olympic stadium's tower building. I called Saara and told her that i want to talk about design. That day Saara happened to be sick of design "design, design, design everywhere, I want to spend my days farming and picking berries somewhere". But she welcomed me & my son anyway to see her super beautiful olympic studio. Both Saara's stuff and architectural experience made me happy.

at Saara's 

 

Look at this coffee break view! No logo! (because of the renovation) Me and my son watching authentic beauty.

 

On Monday we will start a new week by bugabooing to Yatta's office where we have a WDC brainstorming (Grafia duty) with Nestori Brück, Jon Granström and Anu Merenlahti.  

Next week we are also heading to TSTO and say hello to Inka Järvinen, who just turned 30. 

Greetings from home and elsewhere. Have a nice week! 

It must have been 93 or 94, something like that, I met a boy called "Hese" at McDonald's in Tikkurila, Vantaa. I also remember him from Kuusijärvi outdoor recreation area where me and my friends used to bike from Northern Helsinki to swim and play. Now almost twenty years and one mutual school of art and design later I stopped by to congratulate "Hese" at Design Forum Finland tonight, where he received the Young Designer of the Year prize of 2011 as a talented fashion designer. Super congrats Heikki and Laura!   

Young designers of the Year

Special graduation party for women in all ages = Kirsi Nisonen and Bob Helsinki collabo launch @ Bob Helsinki yesterday.

Two handsome men gave nice welcome speeches for ladies, lots of sparkling wine, beautiful roses, lovely Laura Närhi singing, friends and friends' mothers. Highlight: Suvivirsi. True spring time vibes.

It's obvious this super nice idea is going to be a true bestseller (feminine alternative to Bob's & Ivana Helsinki's Yo-beanie from 2003). And I really hope to see Yo-laketti on Havis Amanda's curls. Do it!  

BUT what I most like is Bob Helsinki's and Werklig's 'open doors' kind of thinking when organizing launches, parties or other networking related events. Both sees their own offices the most natural places to invite friends, family and partners to share fun and work. And both communities clearly have required that aspect when choosing suitable office estates and later interior design. Special thing. Honest, warm and proud are the words i'm thinking. It's about staff's well-being and others to feel as welcome.

Thanks for the nice early evening!  

Yo-laketti visual identity and package design by Ulla Lesevic

Festive spirit @ Bob

Festive spirit @ Bob

Oski is singing Gaudeamus igitur, Bob vaari waiting for his turn to give a speech, Laura = super organizer, Yo-laketti posters

Last minute's tip for sophisticated Labour day celebration – Cafe Yrjö! One week to go (September through April, closed during summer). Try the legendary mead they serve all year round or one of their new inspiring menu sets.

Autumn 2010 Yrjönkatu Bath House justly got visual identity by Dog Design that looks up to its archtecture and time's classical style.

At the turn of the year 2010-2011 also Cafe Yrjö's menu went trough a little redesign process and there were born authentic sets in the spirit of the times (suggestion for these came from couple committed and friendly regulars what i understood). 

Between swimming and sauna you can relax and enjoy the delicious menu of Café Yrjö

sets 

Thin line in the logo defines everything that is relevant – Two floors for your wellness




Thanks Hanna (Cafe Yrjö) and Ilona (Dog Design)
  

Some Pekkas
Photo: Janine Rewell

The award for the Graphic Designer of the Year is awarded annually without applying, primarily for outstanding work noted in the field of graphic design, or any other activity that enhances the level and appreciation of Finnish graphic design. 

I think the award-winner of the year couldn't have been more valid than AGENT PEKKA. Pekka fills the bill perfectly.

Traditionally since 1985 award winner has been a single person (exception: 2007 Dog Design). As a jury member I wanted to contest history. Ways of creating, working and thinking has changed. There are interesting design duos and collectives creating recognisable and unique tones, solving problems as a single unit without underlining any single names. "Auters" are minority.

Illustration by Brian Rea in Aiga's 'Designer of 2015 trend'

While Grafia's nominated committee made preparations and research for the award already in autumn 2010, Design Forum Finland announced The Young Designer of the Year Prize and they awarded even two fresh design collectives for 2010! Jury's angle and motivations supported the same thinking as I was introducing in graphic designer of the year context this year. 

One of the main purposes of Graphic designer of the year prize is to observe the various sectors of graphic design in order to take equal notice of people working in different fields. Use of agents has spread among business and their clients in the creative industy. Without any doubt, Agent Pekka is one of the pioneers in Finland. The influence of Agent Pekka on the world conquest of Finnish illustration cannot be ignored. Work well done! Fresh field. Global expertise wise Agent Pekka takes it to the max without any obsequiousness.

Congratulations Agent Pekka!

Being part of the different networks and communities – characteristic to humans. Identity building. Everybody wants to be part of something. 

When i received this picture from my Martha colleaque i realized for the first time HOW cool our local Martha club actually is. And how many parts of my identity is there: Being a woman, determined, creative, educated, values we share etc. 

All these women in the picture have more or less turned things they most love to their dayjobs, fullfilled their dreams. 

What an energy, power, potential, belief in life, visions, hard work, happiness and inspiration 

Many of the female leaders i admire and respect most have mentioned different women's networks and associations in various interviews as their most important power and inspiration sources.

Season's greetings from Viipurinkadun Martat! I'm super proud of our local Martha club. 

(from left)

Asli, interior architect and mother to Selma
Sanni, café entrepreneur, mother to Alvar and Jupiter
Anna, owner of the Papershop
Sanna, award-winning illustrator and graphic designer, mother to Pixi and Morris
Kaisa, restaurant manager at Kuurna
Saara, designer
Me, straight from my pilates lesson
Ellu, producer, mother to Matilda
Laura, project manager at Bob Helsinki
Suvi, Managing Director at Flow Festival, mother to Kaius
Johanna, psychologist, mother to Pepe
Elina, designer, mother to Amos and Elis
Outi, midwife
(and then there is Paula, but not in the picture)

 
Campaign for the 2010 by TSTO

The best of the year 2010 jury was released earlier this week. Happy to see incredible wide range of agencies represented this year!

People with a strong point of view and high-level expertise as always, but for me this jury 2010 also communicates new message from the field: There are accredited professionals acting in other places as well than in those traditonal & institutional giants.

No brainer for us, but important message to communicate to the customers and public: Special aspects of design & focused expertise available! Talented designers and bright thinkers exists outside of the box (too). 

Invited
• Member of the Design jury 2010, in visual identity category, Anssi Kähärä, Werklig

• Marketing Communication jury 2010 – As a chairman of the digital marketing communication category, Micke Nordman, Luxus Helsinki 

Marimekko presented their SS2011 clothing collection yesterday on Vanha Talvitie, around where the early Marimekko fabrics were printed. The venue, a flower warehouse store, was a perfect pick and bundled history of Marimekko and today nicely together, as Ihamuotila detailwisely and almost poetically mentioned: "Kirsti Paakkanen and Armi Ratia, they LOVED flowers". Overall, well designed dramaturgy.  

Bubbles and beautiful cakes were served. Music by Matti Pentikäinen was so good, that while watching the show people were wiggling their heads and looking really happy.  

What about the clothing collection? Well, more fading memory for me than the music and venue. Nothing special, nothing wrong. SS2011 played so safe.

A tiny electric impulse happened though in my brains: Yellow-black combination felt fresh. Long time no see.

Photo: Sampo Karjalainen Flickr
Meat Packing District (as close as you can get), Helsinki 

Photo: Sampo Karjalainen Flickr

The best design academy in the World (in my opinion, and in some others' opinion as well) as one of my biggest sources of inspiration got me return to Eindhoven and Dutch Design Week 2010.

"Man and Well Being – As a student in this department, you combine a cool head with a warm heart. Your mantra is ‘form follows feeling’. You want to reveal the best in human nature by refining design. This implies that you understand human experience varying from taste to tactility, from poetry to technology.

You will be fascinated by the
 emotional value of a product, its applications and its impact on users
 (What do users feel? Is there an element of interaction? Is there an
emotional aspect to using this product?). Equally crucial in this 
department is a keen sense of atmosphere and detail." 

The graduation work that stopped me this year is about the rejection of life, through an incapability of the body or mind to sustain it.

Every child older than 24 weeks receives an official burial and registration. To bury a fetus younger than 24 weeks is far more complicated by law and insurance. While the debate of when and where human life begins is still a contentious one in today’s society, the ‘Miscarriage Coffin’ attempts only to respond to the emotional needs of the expecting parent, which often is neglected and dealt with in silence. Every parent, or parent to be, has the right to take part in an open grieving process and a choice of format in which to say the last goodbye. While the statistics of determining the start of human life is necessary from a legal point of view, our emotional realities are never so black and white.

After a miscarriage a lot of parents leave their child in the hospital. From here it will get a cremation, will be used for research or ends up in the hospital garbage. What a lot of parents don’t know is that they have the right to bring their child home and bury it. These six coffins in different sizes, which refer to the development of the fetus till the 24th week, give parents an opportunity to say goodbye. The coffins are made of biodegradable materials, which will break down within a few months and will fertilize the surrounding patch of grass, which will subtly mark the area for a few months longer. 

photo by Vincent van Gurp
Graduation Galleries 2010, Brigitte Coremans, Man and Well Being department

via Brigitte Coremans

I wrote about this awaited 360° X Finland issue in June. It's out now.

Read more here. 

A Country of Design—Finland