Marimekko : Fabrics, Fashion, Architecture

From Publishers Weekly
The Finnish design house Marimekko has been producing fashion and lifestyle accessories since 1951, and its fresh, high-spirited motifs have influenced designers around the world. This vivid, eye-opening book showcases the firm's history, designers and textile patterns, and examines both Marimekko's international reception and the reasons for its corporate success. Design historian Aav, who directs the Finnish Museum of Art and Design in Helsinki, credits Marimekko's success to visionary leadership and a corporate philosophy based on individual creativity and the connection between design and everyday life. Cheeky and brightly colored, Marimekko designs have been embraced by such paragons of simple design as Crate & Barrel and Terence Conran's popular furniture shop Habitat, and have landed on the covers of fashion magazines worldwide. Aav's selection of essays written by journalists, design historians, architects and professors, along with her selection of full-color photos of various patterns and designs, make this a comprehensive, enlightening study of an important design firm. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description
Founded in 1951 by visionary textile designer Armi Ratia and her husband, Viljo, the Marimekko Corporation in Finland not only sparked a revolution in pattern making but also pioneered a new definition of fashion that embraced the entire home environment. This book-the first comprehensive study of Marimekko designs-presents more than one hundred examples of the exuberant Marimekko fashions and home furnishings that gave the company a definitive presence on the world design stage. The book considers the history of the company from its founding through today and examines Marimekko's impact on design in Finland and around the world. The company's most important designers, including Maija Isola and Vuokko Eskolin-Nurmesniemi, their contributions, and their stylistic development are also discussed. In addition, the book examines Marimekko home and office interiors and how they reflected the lifestyle envisioned in Armi Ratia's broad, radical definition of fashion.

From the Publisher
This book is the catalogue for an exhibition that will open at the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture in November 2003.

About the Author
Marianne Aav is design historian and director of the Finnish Museum of Art and Design, Helsinki.


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Diverse, innovative, and visionary are the words that best describe Marimekko, the international textile design corporation founded in 1951 by Finnish designer Armi Ratia and her husband, Viljo. This fascinating book gives us a 50-plus-year retrospective of the company's history, products, and the creations most notably associated with the pop and mod designs of the 1960s. It is the result of an exhibition at the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts and is a collaborative effort between the Bard Graduate Center and the Design Museum of Finland. Its colorful illustrations and photographs (300 color, 85 b&w) highlight the fashion, home furnishings, and bags of notable Finnish designers who have been associated with Marimekko over the years, all of whose works reflect organic and geometric shapes in bold, festive patterns. Each of the chapters includes brief notes and bibliographic information on the designers and their works. A checklist for the exhibition, a chronology of the company, and brief biographies of major designers conclude the book. This catalog would make a welcome addition to collections focusing on design, decorative arts, and fashion.-Stephen Allan Patrick, East Tennessee State Univ. Lib., Johnson City Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.


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