Who/what is Marimekko? A Finnish design company based in Helsinki Textiles, furnishings, homewares a lifestyle approach Established during the golden age of post-war modernism in 1951 Artists and designers invited to create textile designs a collaborative approach
Marimekko s mission Armi Ratia envisaged a bold future for textile design Coincided with the liberation of women in 60s, radical loose fitting designs Original mission is still relevant to bring joy to everyday moments Marimekko s first fashion show was held in restaurant Kalastajatorppa, Helsinki, Finland in May 20th, 1951. The fabrics were designed by several designers including Maija isola, Eelis Muona and Eeva-Inkeri Tilhe. Garments were designed by fashion designer Riitta Immonen, who had her own fashion salon / atelée in Helsinki. Photograph by Kolmio. Image courtesy Design Museum, Helsinki
CHARACTERISTICS OF MARIMEKKO Contrasts: urban and rural, restrained and bold, colourful and black and white, traditional and modern. Founded in the early 1950s, the period known as the golden age of post-war modernism in Finland. (note: Golden Age of Couture Paris and London were 1947-1957) Emerging liberation of women from the traditional role of housewives. The change in women s fashions was particularly evident in Marimekko clothes in the mid-1950s. Vuokko Nurmesniemi s designs in 1950s: minimized use of cuttings in clothes was typical of her designs, ensuring the original fabric design was as complete as possible. The clothes represented a pure, new concept; they were free from the rules that constrained dress and dictated how women were supposed to look and what they should represent.
MARI and MEKKO The name of the company comes from the woman s name Mari (Mary) suffixed by the word mekko meaning dress. In 1951, when Marimekko was founded, the ready-to-wear garment industry was still a relatively small sector in Finland, but over the following decades it grew to become an important player. Marimekko s meteoric rise to the international scene is without parallel in the history of Finnish textile design.
Liisa Suvanto Designer Liisa Suvanto (1910-1983) and a model wearing a dress designed by Suvanto, 1963 Photograph: Seppo Saves. Image courtesy Design Museum, Helsinki
Annika Rimala Designer This dress is made from the fabric Luukku (hatch), which was designed by Rimala in 1963. Rimala favoured minimal cuttings in the garments she designed, and in this instance only half of the pattern has been printed to the fabric. Annika Rimala (1936 2014, Finland). Sokkeli (plinth) 1963, printed cotton. Design Museum, cat.nr. 30869
Liisa Suvanto Designer Both the garment Kikapuu and this fabric pattern, Ruuturaita (square stripe) were designed by Liisa Suvanto. Liisa Suvanto (1910 1983, Finland) Kikapuu 1973 printed cotton Design Museum, cat.nr. 29238
MARIMEKKO PRODUCTS From the early 1960s other products Textiles for interiors Utility items for the home Used the decorative motifs for which the company had become famous on objects. Marimekko had grown to become a lifestyle concept that would ultimately even include the built environment.
Holistic approach to design Marimekko s graphic, large scale patterns were to be used throughout interiors. Featured here are curtains from the Joonas collection, designed in 1961,in the home of designer Maija Isola. The designer herself is included in the image (reflection in mirror). Interior of Maija Isola s home in Helsinki. Image courtesy Design Museum, Helsinki
Utility items featuring Marimekko designs Marimekko Design Team Rubber boots, 2005. Printed rubber. Design Museum nr S1029 Sami Ruotsalainen (born 1978 Finland). Oiva (superb) 2009, stoneware. Design Museum cat nr 1034
Reinterpreting vintage patterns Annika Rimala (1936-2014, Finland) Suomo 1965, printed cotton, rubber. Design cat nr S1018. These tennis shoes were produced by Converse in 2011 using Anika Rimala s pattern Suomo.
MARIMEKKO PATTERNS Marimekko is renowned for its designs for printed fabrics. Patterns were designed by dozens of different artists and designers. One of Marimekko s best-known designers was Maija Isola (1927 2001), who created almost 500 patterns for fabrics during her lifetime. Isola would vary pattern motifs inexhaustibly. One collection could consist of small romantic motifs while the following one employed graphic designs of large patterns.
Maija Isola used several different techniques when she designed patterns, including painting patterns by hand, or using paper cut-outs. Maija Isola painting a pattern in the 1960s. Image courtesy Design Museum, Helsinki
Installation view Image: Installation view. Photograph: William Conroy, Press 1 Photography
Installation view fabric samples Image: Installation view. Photograph: William Conroy, Press 1 Photography
Installation view Image: Installation view. Photograph: Imagine Pictures
FABRIC COLLECTIONS Some of Marimekko s best-known print designs were created in the 1960s, under the generic name the architect collection. These fabrics were marketed to architects and interior designers, and aimed to complement the interiors of the stark, modernist buildings that were typical of the period. In 1969, Marimekko employed the Japanese designer Katsuji Wakisaka, who was Isola s equal as a tireless painter and artist. He developed a number of figurative motifs for patterns. Fujiwo Ishimoto, also from Japan, came to work for Marimekko in 1974. He followed a more restrained and graphic approach in his print designs.
Fujiwo Ishimoto Above: Installation view featuring designs by Ishimoto. Photograph: William Conroy, Press 1 Photography Right: Fujiwo Ishimoto, a Japanese textile and ceramic artist who joined Marimekko in 1974. Image courtesy of Design Museum, Helsinki
Katsuji Wakisaka Above: Installation view, Bendigo Art Gallery, featuring the design Bo boo. Photograph: William Conroy, Press 1 Photography Right: Katsuji Wakisaka and sketch of the pattern Bo boo, 1975. Image courtesy Design Museum, Helsinki
Vuokko Nurmesniemi Designer Vuokko Eskolin-Nurmesniemi (born 1930) has had a lasting impact on Marimekko's clothing design, patterns and colours. With her clean-cut clothes, she shook up the dress codes and conventions of the 1950s, tuning into the women s liberation movement at the time. Vuokko achieved a never-before-seen sophistication in colour combinations by overlapping colours during the printing process. This colour overlap in print patterns has become a signature style for Marimekko. Image: Installation view, Cheerful Coat, Bendigo Art Gallery. Photograph: William Conroy, Press 1 Photography
DESIGNERS The company s history has often been based on the individual contribution of strong women. Its founder, Armi Ratia, was a creative visionary and verbally talented trailblazer, and a rare female executive in a male-dominated corporate world. Vuokko Nurmesniemi, Maija Isola, Annika Rimala and Liisa Suvanto were designers during Marimekko s early years, and their individual contributions still have an impact on Marimekko s products and identity even today. Marimekko s team of designers, however, included and still includes men. In the 1970s, Pentti Rinta, Katsuji Wakisaka and Fujiwo Ishimoto joined the company, providing their personal touch to Marimekko s patterns and fashion designs. The mark of their hand is as recognizable as that of their predecessors
Key designers Vuokko Nurmesniemi c1958 Image courtesy Design Museum, Helsinki Annika Rimala Image courtesy of Design Museum, Helsinki
International acclaim Early adoption by Design Research in the USA Endorsed by Jackie Kennedy Marimekko s repution grew rapidly Armi Raita the village vision Australian connection, Marion Hall Best Expanded to include a variety of accessories and homewares Sports Illustrated magazine, December 26, 1960. The cover of the magazine featured future US president John F Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy. Jackie had become an admired role model in both the United States and Europe, and was shown wearing a pink Marimekko summer dress. Two dresses owned by Jackie are included in the exhibition. Image courtesy of Design Museum, Helsinki
DESIGN HOUSE HISTORY Armi Ratia, Marimekko s founder was a central figure for the company, which she often personified. Following her death in 1979, Marimekko was headed for a few years by Armi Ratia s descendants Ristomatti and Anttimatti Ratia and Eriika Gummerus, who then relinquished their ownership of the company in 1985. The new owner was the Amer Group, a multisector conglomerate. It failed in renewing the company and withdrew from ownership in 1991. Kirsti Paakkanen, the former owner and head of an advertising agency, acquired ownership and launched a vigorous and successful program of reform. In recent years, Mika Ihamuotila, who became CEO of Marimekko in 2008, has developed the company in an international direction.
REVIVAL OF VINTAGE PATTERNS The early 2000s marked a period when Marimekko returned to its roots. The printed patterns of the previous decades were rereleased and became popular. Mika Piirainen and Samu-Jussi Koski used a large number of Maija Isola s print designs for fabrics for garments, while at the same time new designers, such as Maija Louekari, renewed Marimekko s range of interior textiles. The Scandinavian countries are Marimekko s traditional home area and it has a time-honoured presence in the United States. In recent years, in the Pacific Rim countries, there has been growing public awareness of Marimekko. In 2014 Marimekko appointed Anna Teurnell as its creative director. The legacy of Vuokko Nurmesniemi, Annika Rimala and Liisa Suvanto as designers of practical, yet original fashions has been given a contemporary interpretation.
Unikko celebrated its 50 th anniversary in 2014 Image: Installation view, Bendigo Art Gallery. Photograph: William Conroy, Press 1 Photography
THE ART OF DESIGN DESIGNING A PATTERN The main focus for Marimekko is on the design of printed fabrics, which serve as starting points for almost all products. How then do these prints come about, and how are they given their final form as garments or the motifs of utility objects? The process of designing printed fabrics has changed radically. In the 1990s, the designs were still drawn or painted by hand, but now many of them are realized through computer-assisted means. In the past, the drawing of the repeat (the replicated motif) could be laborious. Now it can be easily copied and re-worked via computer.
Traditional techniques Installation view featuring the Jokeri design, hand painted by Annika Rimala, gouache on cardboard, and garments featuring variations on the pattern. Image: William Conroy, Press 1 Photography
MASTER OF STRIPES Vuokko Nurmesniemi, who was Marimekko s first permanently employed designer, created both printed fabrics and garments. From the very beginning, she followed the idea that a printed pattern must not be destroyed by cutting it into garments whose design would in turn destroy the motif. She preferred simple garment designs with a minimum of cutting, retaining the integrity of the original fabric pattern. She was a master of colouration, creating dozens of different versions of the same pattern by varying their combinations of colours.
Vuokko key designer Above: Piccolo, colour samples 1953, Vuokko Nurmesniemi Right: Installation view, dress and fabric by Vuokko. Image: Imagine Pictures
ISOLA S COLLECTIONS Maija Isola, who designed printed patterns for interior textiles, varied motifs in a versatile manner. The collections designed by her often consisted of models in which a single theme was modified to create a variety of patterns. Her Luonto (Nature) collection from 1957 1959 consisted of tens of patterns taking their motifs from parts of plants picked directly from nature, the outlines of which were exposed directly on the original printing stencil. The Ornamentti (Ornament) collection, in turn, was composed of small ornamental motifs enlarged several times to their final scale. In contrast to Ornamentti, the Joonas collection from 1961 consisted of large painted sketches made on long rolls of paper. The final designs of the Joonas collection were only a fraction of the size of the original sketches.
Maija Isola designs Installation view, Bendigo Art Gallery. Image: William Conroy, Press 1 Photography
Timelessness of design Installation view showcasing Unikko for a contemporary audience. Photograph: William Conroy, Press 1 Photography