Your Custom Text Here
Producer, project and content management, member of the curatorial team. Part of the official Finland 100 programme, in co-operation with three Finnish embassies, 2017–2018.
The exhibition Echoes – 100 Years in Finnish Design and Architecture is an engaging exploration and aesthetic narrative of Finnish architecture and design, created in honour of Finland’s centenary celebration.
The exhibition presents selected, beloved classics of Finnish design and architecture alongside less well-known gems from the beginning of the country’s independence until the present. The four seasons, distant location and rugged natural conditions have inspired designers to search for a simple idiom as well as innovative, practical solutions to the challenges of everyday life. It is these characteristics and the designers’ many, fresh approaches that form the core of the exhibition.
The exhibition was launched in January 2017 at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN in Warsaw. The museum building, planned by architect Rainer Mahlamäki, offered an impressive setting for the presentation of Finnish design and architecture. In addition to Warsaw, the exhibition was shown in Bratislava, Budapest, Prague and Berlin in the course of 2017. The exhibitions attracted a total of 46,500 visitors.
Echoes was targeted for an international public, who may be quite familiar with the classics of Finnish design, but for whom many beloved evergreens from past decades, known by the Finns, as well as some of the latest innovations were new acquaintances. The exhibition was educational, it touched several generations, and was of interest to both design professionals and the wider, general public.
The exhibition acted as a ‘showcase’ of Finnish design and architecture. It supported the activities of Finnish embassies by presenting timely and exciting perspectives on Finnish culture and its unique design idiom. The exhibition promoted knowledge of Finland and generated new contacts and collaborative initiatives between designers, architects and companies.
Interior and colour, concept design, renovation management for Donors’ Lounge, Otaniemi. Client: Aalto University Foundation, 2013.
Donors’ Lounge is an exclusive sauna and lounge space renovation project for Aalto University’s donor companies. Among the guiding elements of my interior decoration plan was the use of art works to create an elevated atmosphere, combined with various products designed by Aalto University Alumni, including a few allusions to the visual identity of the Aalto brand. The design project was holistic, including the planning and overseeing of the renovation, the interior design and colour coordination, the selection of all the pieces of furniture and small objects, as well as the remodeling of the sauna area.
Jewelry in Me exhibition and study project. Hand printed textile art, paper lamp collection, product family based on Kalevala Koru jewellery for the Kalevala Koru Shop, Helsinki, 2012. Lahti Muotohuoltamo Centre, 2012.
I had the opportunity to coach a select group of Aalto University students in collaboration with the Kalevala Koru Company. The project was based on ten of Kalevala Koru’s most popular pieces of jewelry, which we could use freely in our works. In addition to coaching, I participated in the group exhibition with my own art works.
The collection comprising of twelve handprinted paper lampshades is an interpretation of the Kalevala Koru’s jewellery Halikon Kääty, Halikko Necklace and bracelet. Kalevala Koru is a company founded by women. I wanted to highlight this by creating a series of lampshades with patterns expressing different female personalities: loud, quiet, shy – women pioneers and vocal leaders. Active women such as the founders of Kalevala Koru.
The variation of individual patterns to create larger designs is characteristic of my work: the study of a theme from many perspectives, so-to-speak, by changing scale and rhythm.
Church textile design project for Heponiemi Retreat Center. Client: The Helsinki Deaconess Institute. 2007.
My textile design work for the Heponiemi Centre of Silence included the hand-dying of a thick linen cloth, and the creation of a unique new element, a piece of stola jewellery, the Heponiemi Cross of Silence. Since 2007, the Cross of Silence has also been reproduced in the form of necklaces and earrings. The design of the cross is a combination of the transcending power of faith with utter simplicity of form. The cross design is the signature work of goldsmith Isto Kotavuopio.
Church textile design project for Holy Anna Children’s Church. Client: The Vantaa Parish Union. 2004.
In the design of the ecclesiastical textiles of the Holy Anna Children’s Church, I sought to interpret the Bible’s stories through modern and experimental embroidering techniques. These coarse hand-dyed and partly hand-embroidered silk textiles were inspired by the church milieu and the rough style of the altarpiece. Newly created details also included pieces of cross jewellery, in which I used a combination of elm tree and frosted silver.
© Photos by Esko Jämsä, Tarja Trygg and Anna Isoniemi.
Church textile design project for Aitolahti Church, Tampere. Client: The Tampere Parish Union, 2000.
Church textile design combines artistic expression and conceptual design thinking in a unique way. The process often requires teamwork and calls for the mastery of many different skills among collaborating partners. Colour coordination requires the command of ecclesiastic colour schemes, which are always based on different shades of green, red, purple and white, and occasionally black, such as in the Aitolahti church.
In my first church textile design project, I dyed and printed all the cloths by hand. My themes were a rich world of patterns, combined with a simple design and the gentle feel of velvet to soften the sharp, modern feel of the church.
textile photos © Merja Ojala