Marrimekko

I have just rediscovered Marrimekko which was launched in 1951 , always ahead of its time and with an impressive array of designers the current Spring 2008 range of fabric designs show all the freshness and originality that are the key to the company's success.
Most of the designs are used across many products eg. bed-linen, furnishing fabric, book covers and mouse mats as well as ceramics. I have been considering trying out my winter tree designs on other products hence the interest in designers who do just that . A bit of a shock though to find a very similar design already in production on their bedlinen! Below are some descriptions of the new ranges to see the wonderful fabrics and related products go to
http://www.marimekko.com



Erja Hirvi

Erja Hirvi's new nature-themed designs feature exotic fruit and spectacular flowers, and evoke nostalgic memories of hay fields and hot summers. The colours of the fabrics range from dazzlingly bright yellow, orange and pink hues to a cool turquoise, a subtle grey, a fresh green and exciting shades of deep red and aubergine.
(Erjas work I particularly like probably because the designs are nature based . the images simple and bold with well thought out colourways. I saw the magnolia fabric in an interiors shop in Greenwich Village in New York .)

Fujiwo Ishimoto

Fujiwo Ishimoto finds his main source of inspiration in nature and its aspects in different seasons. The influence of nature can be clearly sensed in almost all the prints designed by him, either naturalistic, such as Villi ja vapaa, or abstract, such as the line composition Lepo, which resembles a pastel drawing.

Maija Isola

This spring will see the flowers in Maija Isola's best-known design, Unikko, bloom in trendy purple tones. New colourways have also been created for the popular Ruusupuu pattern from 1957.

As we are going to London to Design week at Chelsea Harbour I hope to visit the Marimekko concept store .
LONDON March 8th
A visit to the Marimeko flagship store is on St Christopher Place W1 just off Oxford Street a narrow street full of small but interesting fashion and furnishing/interiors shops and cafes. The store itself is much smaller than I expected but has a wide range of furnishing fabrics, homewares and clothes and very helpful staff. The most interesting thing for me was too see the scale of the designs which you dont see online . Note in the photographs the hand and ruler which help to show the scale . Often the same design is used on a large scale for a stretched canvas piece and then as a smaller scale on a furnishing fabric. A very inspiring experience.



















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