Exhibition Marimekko: Fabric, Fashion, Architecture at SEM in Ljubljana

From July 1st to October 18th Slovenski etnografski muzej (Slovene Etnographic Museum) in Ljubljana hosts travelling exhibition Marimekko: Fabric, Fashion, Architecture. The exhibition explores over a half century of the company’s history, focusing on the work of the talented designers who defined the firm’s identity, tracing its sometimes-turbulent ascent from a local textile print works to an internationally recognized brand.

Marimekko was established in 1951 in Helsinki, Finland, the brainchild of the charismatic and visionary Armi Ratia. The company’s name, which literally translates as “Mary dress,” has various interpretations, a multiplicity that reflects the complex associations and dualities that define the Marimekko aesthetic – national and international, traditional and modern, rural and urban, nature and technology. The introduction of Marimekko in the 1950s was a design sensation that swept across the international scene, and the company became one of the premiere furnishing textile and fashion enterprises of the post-war era and beyond. The striking, large-scale fabric patterns and unconventional ready-to-wear dresses brought colour and informality to an otherwise self-conscious design and fashion world.

Marimekko is inextricably linked to Finland, an association that was carefully devised by Armi Ratia, who acted as managing director, art director, and chief publicist. Fabrics and fashions were photographed amidst the idyllic beauty of the Finnish countryside and its rural farmhouses. Products were given uniquely Finnish names, fabric patterns referenced historic decorative motifs, and dresses showed elements of traditional Finnish clothing. At the same time, however, Marimekko was far from being conventionally Finnish – some of the company’s harshest critics were Finns themselves.

Marimekko’s business concept is tinged with the ideology of Modernism, and its theoretical foundation is profoundly visionary. While Marimekko’s story reflects Finnish society and the progress attained by Finnish industry in the second half of the twentieth century, its boldness and originality were ahead of its time, pointing the way for other entrepreneurs. It stands among the other legendary Finnish design manufactories of the time – such as Iittala Glass and Arabia for ceramics – that achieved a high level of quality and success by maintaining a roster of in-house designers who were given the freedom to experiment and pursue their individual interests. However, unlike the manufactories, which maintained a core group of individuals who selected the designs for serial production, Ratia stood alone as the ultimate decision-maker at Marimekko, single-handedly shaping the company’s unique aesthetic.

Throughout Marimekko’s history its ideological and aesthetic choices were in hands of women, beginning with Armi Ratia. She recruited promising young designers, Maija Isola, Annika Rimala and Vuokko Nurmesniemi, and fostered an atmosphere of unbridled creativity. Collaborations between Ratia and the open-minded and progressive designers enabled the creation of a new lifestyle concept. Marimekko extended its production to include house wares, interiors, and architecture. With a visionary corporate philosophy ranging from a utopian Mari community with prefabricated dwellings to luxury saunas for the foreign market

Images:
1 Vuokko Nurmesniemi. Jokapoika shirt, 1956. Piccolo pattern, 1956. Armi Ratia and a model, photographed outside the Marimekko factory, Vanha Talvitie 6, Helsinki, at late 1960´s.
2 Maija Isola, pattern Kivet, 1956. Marimekko. Photo: Design Museum.  
3 Annika Rimala, Galleria jersey, 1971. Marimekko.

 Posted by: Eva Prelovšek