Tuesday 29 January 2013

marimekko in town

First Frida and Diego at the AGO, now Marimekko, With Love at the Textile Museum... Toronto keeps us well entertained and educated.
For those not familiar with the Finnish company, Marimekko is one of the most iconographic textile houses since the early 50's, when it took the world by storm under the vigilant eye of Armi Ratia and the extraordinary group of designers she recruited to help her launch and establish her vision. One of the most representative designs? Maija Isola's Unikko in red.
Unikko by Maija Isola for Marimekko, 1965.
I have no recollection of when my infatuation with the brand started, I know however, that it was something akin to what the Italians mean when they say "colpo di fulmine". The moment I set eyes on those bold, colourful, unassumingly beautiful designs, I was hooked for life.

MARIMEKKO INSPIRED
During our members meeting at CTS, Rachel suggested we offered a workshop at the studio to tie-in with the Marimekko show at the Textile Museum, and I'm very happy to say I will be teaching it, yay! So in the spirit of it all, Monday, last week, I visited the exhibit, which by the way, had only been open for a couple of hours. It was most interesting to learn about Karelia, the Toronto link with Marimekko from the very late 50's to the late 70's. After the show, and while waiting in the car for E to come out of school, I doodled three designs in my notebook, two of which I knew were ready to go. Just like that! Marimekko inspired, indeed.
Sunday was spent at the studio, finishing films, shooting screens and printing a few samples  of one of the designs in very different colourways, I named it "pebbles".

I'm posting the process, from ideation to print: 1-as a memory of this swift project which helped  review the steps involved in the printing process with my Monday class, 2-to gain insight regarding the outline and content for the workshop, 3-to procure a production-ready design.

Preliminary sketches in the pages of my "handbag" notebook. Hardware equipment: A letter-size photocopier. The design was scaled up to fit comfortably within the screen. Positives (or films) high-tech tools: Mylar, India ink in a chopstick and brush marker, opaque marker, fine sharpie, scissors, utility knife, yellow colour pencil, Canson black paper (for the ground color) and double-sided tape.

Screens shot, no touch-ups necessary. Plenty of tape is needed to mask the edges.

The ground colour (orange) is printed first. Once dry, the outline colour (red) is printed on top. The mysterious object on the side of the screen on the top left image is a brick covered in plastic bags. It helps hold the screen down so it doesn't shift during printing.

Printed samples, in various colourways. The preliminary palettes came from card stock in very vivid colours.

I now need to figure out end-uses (besides pillows), any ideas?
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2 comments:

  1. I subscribe to another blog, http://textileandterrain.com/ that just mentioned this show so I saw images of it there and am so jealous you got to see it! I think if you grew up in the western hemisphere in the 70s and had any inkling of design sensiblity, Marimekko made an impression on your brain. My dad went to Helsinki several years ago and asked me what I wanted from Finland. Of course I said Marimekko and he bravely navigated the austere shopkeepers at the flagship store and brought me 2-3 meter pieces each of four different designs which now hang as curtains in my studio (pics on my blog somewhere 2009 maybe?). The motifs and repeats are so large I can't imagine them used in any other capacity, except maybe as bedding, which Crate and Barrel is now doing btw. Pebbles is wonderful!!! I would sleep under it in a heartbeat.

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    1. Hi Selinde,
      The show is indeed lovely, with a remarkable Toronto connection. Apparently, most everything displayed came from the archives of Karelia, the concept store here in the city that closed its doors too soon (1979, I think). The show has most certainly coloured our spirits with the boldest hues while we (very patiently) wait for spring to come (it's supposed to be here, but you can't see it in this snow).
      I love the idea for a duvet application--I'm already working on establishing the repeat for a large format screen. Thanks!

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