Marimekko

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• Founded: by Armi Ratia (1912-79) and Viljo Ratia in Helsinki in 1951.
• Company History: Fabrics introduced in the U.S. by Design Research stores, from 1951; ventured into the U.S., early 1960s; signed licensing agreement with Dan River company for bed linens, 1976; wallpaper and home furnishing lines introduced, 1978; firm acquired by Amergroup, Finland, 1985, stopped selling directly to U.S., 1989; sold to Kristi Paakkanen, in 1991; new Helsinki flagship shop opened, 1993; opened store in Mexico City, 1994; signed new licenses for rugs and children's dinnerware, 1994; exclusive product placement with Mervyn's and Crate & Barrel, 1996; launched new bed linen collections exclusively with Crate & Barrel, 1998; signed with DelGreco Textiles for fabrics in U.S., 1999; new wallcovering and coordinating fabric agreement with Imperial Home Decor, 2000.
• Company Address: Marimekko Oy, Puusepankatu 4, Helsinki 00810, Finland.

A strong Finnish design movement emerged after World War II and was given decisive impetus by the International Triennales of 1951 and 1954 which defined the concept of "Finish design." By formally integrating design into manufacturing, textiles from Marimekko acquired international attention through their identification of an exclusive market responsive to the strong Finnish design aesthetic.

Marimekko was founded by Armi and Viljo Ratia in 1951 and has since established a reputation for producing quality textiles for home furnishings and clothing. The Finland-based company actually began in 1949 by acquiring Printex Oy—an oilcloth factory in the suburbs of Helsinki. After a refit, the factory reintroduced the craft-based technique of hand silk-screen printing on cotton sheeting. The technique, which was recognized by resulting irregularities and repeat lines, evoked a human feel to each design. Although production techniques at Marimekko were mechanized long ago, the company maintains hand-crafted quality in its printing. Its use of decorative designs and natural fibers strengthened its commitment to the Scandinavian affinity to nature.

Under the design direction of Armi Ratia, the company broke ranks with conventional Finnish textile designers and implemented a range of nonfigurative patterns, using abstract graphic designs of art colleagues. The first collection of simply cut dresses, introduced in 1951 in Helsinki, originated as a promotional vehicle for the company's printed cotton fabrics. Wraparound and front-buttoned garments were included, accentuating the textiles rather than the styling of the garments. The collection was called Marimekko, combining the old-fashioned Finnish girl's name of Maria and the term mekko which described a tow shirt, open at the back and worn like a pinafore. Since then "Maria's little dress" expanded into home furnishing textiles, with overseas licensing agreements (initiated in 1968) for wall coverings, bedding, decorative fabrics, paper products, table linens, kitchenware, ceramics, glassware, rugs, and wallcoverings.

The textile patterns used by Marimekko have given the firm a unique identity throughout the world; inspired by elements, forms, and colors taken from Finland's landscape and national heritage. At the same time, however, Marimekko's textile designs embrace experimental ideas and contemporary graphic thinking, often resulting in bold patterns and saturated colors. Marimekko designs are based on an understanding of modernity, rather than concerns for contemporary fashion trends.

Marimekko's garments sought to incorporate functionalist ideas; comfort and timelessness were strikingly evident in the design of the fabrics themselves. Designs produced in the 1950s by Maiha Isola and Vuokko Nurmesniemi (founder of Vuokko in 1964) included small, simple stripes and nature-inspired graphic prints in black and white. By the 1960s there were oversized decorative graphics, flowers, and Op-Art-inspired prints, reflecting the playful and opulent mood of the period. By the end of the 1970s stripes were rendered primarily in bold primary colors as exemplified by the Peltomies series (1975-79). Similar designs continued to be produced through the next decade, with geometric patterns scaled for furniture in shades including mauve, opal, and midnight.

Marimekko's designs came full circle in the 1990s collections— Fujiwo Ishimoto (prints in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Finnish Independence), Jukka Rintala (womenswear), and Elina Helenius and Jatta Salonen (prints and patterns) returned to the natural patterns and colored world of Finland's seasons and landscape, which inspired original designs of the 1950s. By 1994 there were two dozen Marimekko stores worldwide, with 22 in Finland, one in Germany, and its first shop outside Europe opening in Mexico. The company, which had stopped direct selling to the U.S. at the end of the 1980s, staged comeback with two new licensing agreements with Selandia Designs and the Newmark Rug Company.

Selandia signed on to produce children's dinnerware, snack trays, and lunchbags coordinated to Marimekko's textile designs, while Newmark created rugs or all sized and shapes matching Marimekko kitchen and bath collections. Further U.S. exposure came from product placements with Mervyn's and Crate & Barrel in bed linens through its American distributor, Revman. Mervyn's began displaying Marimekko bed linens in its 297 stores in 1996; Crate & Barrel used simple leaf-designed collections of sheets, pillow cases, and comforters to showcase their beds. "Marimekko is what we use to decorate," Betty Kahn, a spokesperson for Crate & Barrel told HFN (Weekly Home Furnishings Network Newspaper) (24 June 1996). The popular ensemble, Kahn explained, became the "basic design element in our stores, so it's more than just selling [Marimekko's] sheets; we have a symbiotic relationship."

Marimekko and Crate & Barrel continued their association and in 1998 five new bedding ensembles and accessories debuted exclusively at Crate & Barrel stores. "Marimekko represents something unique and special," Carole Newton, product manager and textiles buyer for Crate & Barrel stated to HFN (26 January 1998). "Marimekko and Crate & Barrel go together very well; we have a similar philosophy…. There's a real synergy between our classic contemporary points of view."

By the end of the 20th century, Marimekko had engineered a major comeback in the U.S., with fabric (for both indoor and outdoor use), wallcoverings, bed linens, rugs and much more available to American buyers through a series of licenses. Though not as well known in America as many other textiles firms, Marimekko's bold, simple, classic print designs and characteristic use of color have established a permanently recognizable and highly individualistic identity that remains to this day.

Publications

By Marimekko:

Books
• Marimekko-Printex Oy, The Marimekko Story, Helsinki, 1964.
• Marimekko, New York, 1980, 1989.
• Marimekko Oy Architect Colleciton, Helsinki, 1982.

On Marimekko:

Books
• Beer, Eileene Harrison, Scandinavian Design: Objects of a Life Style, New York, 1975.
• Lambert, Eleanor, World of Fashion: People, Places, Resources, New York & London, 1976.
• Suomen Taideteollisuusyhdistys, Women Who Create, Helsinki, 1984.
• Suhonen, Pekko, Phenomenon Marimekko, Helsinki, 1986.
• Ainamo, Antti, Industrial Design and Business Performance: A Case Study of Design Management in a Finnish Fashion Firm, Helsinki, 1996.

Articles
• Davies, David, "Fabrics by Marimekko," in Design (London), August 1968.
• Lintman, Jaako, "Finland Marches Forward," in Design, No. 245,May 1969.
• "Bright Spell Forecast," in Design, October 1973.
• Tulberg, Diana, "That Old Marimekko Magic," in Designed in Finland 1975 (Helsinki), 1975.
• Holm, Aase, "Marimekko," in Mobilia (Amsterdam), No. 284, 1979.
• Apple, R.W., "Finland's Spirited Designer," in the New York Times, 2August 1979.
• Slesin, Suzanne, "Finnish and Muted," in the New York Times, 16September 1979.
• "Armi Ratia, Marimekko Founder and Innovator in Printed Fabrics,"[obituary] in the New York Times, 4 October 1979.
• Furman, Phyllis, "Marimekko's Designs on a Turnaround," in Crain's New York Business, 5 September 1988.
• Fraser, Mark, "Marimekko on the Move in America," in HFN (Weekly Home Furnishings Newspaper), 20 November 1989.
• Boyle-Schwartz, Donna, "Thoroughly Modern Marimekko," in HFN (Weekly Home Furnishings Newspaper), 26 July 1993.
• ——, "Marimekko Inks Newmark, Selandia," in HFN (Weekly Home Furnishings Newspaper), 24 October 1994.
• Orenstein, Alison F., "Marimekko Revs Up," in HFN (Weekly Home Furnishings Newspaper), 24 June 1996.
• Boyle-Schwartz, Donna, "A Crate & Barrel Exclusive…for Bedding with Marimekko Designs," in HFN (Weekly Home Furnishings Newspaper), 26 January 1998.
• Gilbert, Daniela, "Marimekko Back in Spotlight," in HFN (Weekly Home Furnishings Newspaper), 13 July 1998.
• ——, "Marimekko Set to Re-Cover North America in Fabric," inHFN (Weekly Home Furnishings Newspaper), 25 January 1999.
• "The Finnish Line," in Interior Design, November 1999.
• "Marimekko Ready for Spring," in HFN (Weekly Home Furnishings Newspaper), 17 January 2000.
• Stevens, Kimberly, and William L. Hamilton, "Trying on Those Supergraphics Again," in the New York Times, 31 July 2001.

— Teal Triggs; updated by Owen James

Marimekko Corporation

Type	Public (OMX: MMO1V)
Industry	Textiles and fashion
Founded	Helsinki, Finland (1951)
Founder(s)	Armi Ratia Riitta Immonen
Headquarters	Helsinki, Finland
Key people	Mika Ihamuotila (CEO) Maija Isola (design) Vuokko Nurmesniemi (design)
Revenue	81,107,000 € (2008)
Employees	414 (2008)
Website	www.marimekko.com

Marimekko in Kamppi, Helsinki

Marianne Aav's book on Marimekko has Maija Isola's iconic 1964 Unikko print as its background

Marimekko is a Finnish company based in Helsinki that has made important contributions to fashion, especially in the 1960s and 1970s. They are particularly noted for brightly-colored printed fabrics and simple styles, used both in women's garments and in home furnishings.^[1]

Contents 1 History 1.1 Foundation 1.2 Pioneering design 1.3 Commercial growth 2 Marimekko chart 3 Bibliography 4 References 5 External links

History

Foundation

Marimekko was founded in 1951 by Viljo and Armi Ratia, after the former's oilcloth factory project failed and was converted to a garment plant. Armi asked some artist friends to apply their graphic designs to textiles. In order to show how the fabric could be used, the company then designed and sold a line of simple dresses using their fabric. It came as an early recognition of fashion as an industrial art and of Marimekko's role in the process when Finland's leading industrial designer Timo Sarpaneva invited the company to present a fashion show (albeit canceled at short notice) at the 1957 Triennale in Milan. The garments were eventually showcased in the nearby Rinascente upscale department store under its then store display manager Giorgio Armani.^[2]

Pioneering design

Two pioneering designers set the tone for Marimekko: Vuokko Nurmesniemi in the 1950s, and Maija Isola in the 1960s. ^[3][4] Nurmesniemi designed the simply-striped red and white Jokapoika shirt in 1956; Isola designed the iconic Unikko (poppy) print pattern in 1964. ^[5]

Marimekko's bold fabrics and bright, simple design strongly influenced late 20th-century taste.^[6] Many of the early Marimekko designs, including Maija Isola's Unikko, remain in production today.^[7]

Commercial growth

Marimekko was first introduced to the United States by the architect Benjamin C. Thompson, who featured them heavily in his Design Research stores. They were made famous in the United States by Jacqueline Kennedy, who bought eight Marimekko dresses which she wore throughout the 1960 US Presidential campaign. ^[8]

In the mid-1960s, Crate and Barrel began a relationship with Marimekko, which continues to this day, utilizing their designs on textiles sold in their stores. Crate and Barrel also uses Marimekko patterns as display backdrops in their stores to add color and seasonality.

By 1965, the company employed over 400, and the company was in every aspect of fine design, from fabrics to toys, dinnerware, even completely equipped small houses. That year, Armi Ratia told Pan Am's Clipper magazine that she was "against success--it is a sick word. Too many side effects." In the interview by R.E. Smallman, she also said that she did not like "hats, corsets. There is almost no more bra or even pants--no elegant woman will wear stockings, perhaps even no shoes. The world changes quickly, and this is expression of the new society."

In 1985, the company was sold to Amer-yhtymä. In the beginning of the 1990s, Marimekko was in a bad financial condition and was considered ready for bankruptcy. It was then bought from Amer by Kirsti Paakkanen, who introduced new business methods in the company and is generally seen as having saved Marimekko. ^[8]

Later on the 1990s Marimekko achieved publicity in the hit series Sex and the City. The fictional main character of the series, sex-and-relationship columnist Carrie Bradshaw, wore a Marimekko bikini on the season 2 and later on, a Marimekko dress. On the fifth season the series also introduced tablecloths with Marimekko prints. ^[8]

In 2005, Marimekko's revenue had quadrupled since Paakkanen's purchase, and its net income grown 200-fold. Kirsti Paakkanen remained CEO of Marimekko and owned 20 % of the company via her business Workidea. In 2007, Paakkanen announced she would gradually hand over her ownership to Mika Ihamuotila as CEO and biggest owner of the company.

In 2007, Marimekko began opening individually-owned Marimekko Concept Stores in the United States and Canada.

Currently there are stores located in New York, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Oxford, Mississippi; Miami, Florida; and Vancouver, British Columbia.^[9] By September 2011 there were 84 stores across the world. ^[8]

Marimekko chart

The Marimekko name has been adopted within business and the management consultancy industry to refer to a bar chart where all the bars are of equal height, there are no spaces between the bars, and the bars are in turn each divided into segments of different height. The design of the 'marimekko' chart is said to resemble a Marimekko print.^[10] The chart's design is ingenious, encoding two variables (such as percentage of sales and market share), but it is criticised for making the data hard to perceive and to compare visually. ^[11]

Bibliography

• Aav, Marianne. Marimekko: Fabrics, Fashion, Architecture. Yale University Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-300-10183-6

• Cole, Drusilla. The Pattern Sourcebook: A Century of Surface Design. Laurence King, 2009. ISBN 978-1-85669-621-0

• Fogg, Marnie. 1960s Fashion Print: A Sourcebook. Batsford, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7134-9054-1 (6 page-sized illustrations of Isola's prints) Google Books

• Isola, Kristina. Maija Isola: Life, Art, Marimekko. Design Museo, 2005. ISBN 978-952-9878-42-0

• Jackson, Lesley. Twentieth Century Pattern Design. Princeton Architectural Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1-56898-712-5

• Suhonen, Pekko. Phenomenon Marimekko. Marimekko Oy, 1986.

References

1. ^ "Marimekko - Finnish Design". http://www.finnishdesign.com/finnish-design-companies/marimekko. 
2. ^ Kalin, Kaj; Sarpaneva, Timo (1986). Sarpaneva. Helsinki: Otava. ISBN 951-1-07887-9. 
3. ^ Kristina Isola, 2005
4. ^ Marnie Fogg, 2008
5. ^ Marimekko Timeline Retrieved 30 October 2011
6. ^ Lesley Jackson, 2007
7. ^ Marimekko Products (in 2011) Retrieved 30 October 2011
8. ^ ^{a b c d} Qureshi, Huma (20 September 2011). "The Guardian House and Home Blog". Marimekko's bid for world domination. The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/house-and-homes-blog/2011/sep/20/marimekko-textile-design. Retrieved October 30, 2011. 
9. ^ Marimekko Shop Locator Retrieved 30 October 2011
10. ^ Mekkographics.com
11. ^ Example Marimekko Chart Retrieved 30 October 2011

External links

• Marimekko

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