Tag Archives: Marimekko

Marimekko & Mika Ihamuotila

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mika ihamuotila, marimekko, kristina isola, metsänväki, maria prymachenko And we’re back on the subject. TODAY, Marimekko’s CEO Mika Ihamuotila made comments regarding the plagiarism scandal. He said in his Twitter in Finnish that “Finns’ ability to distinguish between right and wrong is weak. Why is it so hard for so many to see that Marimekko was the one being betrayed?“.

Um. Thanks for the insult. We DID see that you were betrayed too. But it was your choice to:   A. First try to ignore audience then, B. organize Q&A on FB where you didn’t answer any questions, C. then completely clam up and icing on the cake… D. keep Isola on your payroll. Not only that, it’s quite clear that you wouldn’t have done anything if Helsingin Sanomat hadn’t broken out the news. There’s no point of hiding behind “we should be able to trust our designer”. Yes you should but you can’t. Your first responsibilities are the brand, the shareholders and the people who work directly under the brand.

He then continued on Twitter in English: “We were betrayed, the Ukranians were betrayed. I hope we can create something really beautiful together: exhibitions, products, friendship.“

I’d say, quite the difference in the tone. FYI, Finland is still your main market so maybe insulting isn’t the best way to go. Plus, you still have quite a few answers to give. Isola’s destiny at the company (by reading comments on various news outlets suggests that I’m not the only one who suspects Isola is holding her mother’s work as leverage). Gingko, is it or isn’t it? And finally, how are you going to use all this to better your company?

Thrifty Finn- Reaching new levels of skepticism.

P.S. Yesterday it was announced that Mika Ihamuotila will join the board of Rovio game company. Maybe we’ll soon see Unikko Birds. Or rather not. Because Kristina Isola would earn royalties from it.

P.P.S. There is a rumour that Marimekko’s lawyers are trying to find a way to get rid of Isola but I’m not holding my breath for that to happen.

P.P.P.S. I found another problem. Most of the Marimekko-news has been classified either style or culture news. Another FYI, this is very much business news. Fashion and design IS business. Just ask Erling Persson and Ingvar Kamprad.

 

 

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Marimekko scandal is almost behind us. I’m still waiting for news about Isola but it seems like she’s allowed to continue to work at Marimekko. Grrrr. Very disappointing.

Anyhoo, pinning new things has been a welcome distraction from all this hardcore journalism stuff I’ve been doing and I have few good ones to share:

Erik Bruun, Jaffa, juliste, poster, Hartwall Vintage soda poster Jaffa by Erik Bruun. He did quite a few ads for Hartwall Jaffa back in the day and one of them was even made into fabric and other home decor products recently. They were/are a HUGE hit and even I wouldn’t say no to the shower curtain.

young Jack Nicholson From my board “Beautiful People”. I don’t have any information about this photo. All I know it’s young Jack Nicholson hot and ready to bother and that’s all I need to know. Which is a nice build up to:

someecards, inappropriate, heart skips a beat, funnyBut in my defense, I just think them.

maison de reefur ballerinasAh, these shoes!!! Maybe I could balance the little evil in my heart with some sweetness on my feet. These shoes are a Disney-princess musical scene waiting to happen. And no, no one is too old to have a Disney-princess moment. Just ask Penny, Amy and Bernadette.

floral keyboard, computer for a princess Talking about suitable for princess…Now this is what I call, call, call…Well let’s just call it PRETTY! I wouldn’t mind having patterned computer. I think it would bring certain je ne sais quoi to my life. Or at least make my mornings little bit less boring/mundane/soul sucking. And if I could have one of these:

spotted puppy sitting on a chair I’d never, ever be sad. I mean look at that belly! Gah! I’m bursting with inability to handle this cuteness. I want to squeeze him so hard! Sniff it’s head and then squeeze some more!

Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze and one more squeeze! Seriously this is just too much for one woman to bear.

Last but not least, some words of wisdom to live by:

hide your crazy and act like a lady, silkscreen print, tank top, quote

Hear, hear.

Thrifty Finn- Pinmeister and Blogger Extraordinaire

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Marimekko, Breaking News

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I came home from my shoe and fabric shopping trip (hah, not any Marimekko fabrics), to find that Finnish people were getting all active on Twitter again. Hashtag Marimekko was clearly trending. Breaking news (via iltalehti.fi) is that Marimekko is paying for the use of the copied Prymachenko-print AND has approached the family “with a friendly wish to license the print and possibly other ones in the future”. Yay! Not only that, Marimekko is now interested in sponsoring Maria Prymachenko-exhibition should one be organized here in Finland.

Wow! That’s a whole lot of good news. Marimekko seems to be carrying their responsibility and finally showed some backbone, but…There ARE still “buts” to be considered.

Creative director Maria Kemell-Kutvonen didn’t answer (again!!!) questions about Kristina Isola’s future in the company OR had her other work been reviewed by the company. Possible financial issues (I assume this to mean that if Isola is going to be asked to refund the money she earned) are “carefully looked into before conclusions are drawn”. Tragedy is that when Dolce&Gabbana used Unikko-print without permission, Mika Ihamuotila made a big statement and said “any designer caught stealing from others, will be fired”. Mika, you said it, now do it.

Questions about Gingko are still open too. Is it Isola’s (you know where I stand with this)? Did they get Registered Community Design-protection on false pretext? Law professor Sarah Burnstein from the University of Oklahoma asks on Twitter an interesting question: Is the RCD invalid based on earlier print?Screen shot 2013-06-04 at 6

Exciting day, I must say. What are your thoughts on the news? For the post where I listed my favourites for possible Marimekko & Prymachenko-collection, click HERE.

Thrifty Finn- Satisfied with her reporting. And rewarding herself with food. Mmm, ice cream…

 

 

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Marimekko, Unbelievable

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Sleazy, sleazier, Marimekko. It’s noon on Monday here in Finland and no official statements have been released yet, so I don’t think there will be one today (or ever). However, I began browsing Twitter for news and tweets about Marimekko and I found something VERY interesting.

Gingko, 2008

Gingko, 2008

Marimekko maintains that Gingko is an original but there are two different stories on how this print came to be. In the first one (will add the link when I find it), Kristina allegedly asked someone to bring some gingko leaves from New York for her and those leaves were then used to create the print. In the second one it was Kristina herself who in her travels to Tokyo and New York got so inspired by the leaves that she made a print based on them.

Maria Jauhiainen, Gingko 2005

Marimekko’s argument is that Gingko isn’t a copy as especially the layout is very different. Company’s defenders argue that there are millions of images and clip art pieces of gingko leaves online and that no one can claim copyright over natural shapes and elements.

But guess what? Marimekko DID claim it as their own and original. On June 11th 2008, Marimekko filed Gingko at the Trade Marks and Design Registration Office of European Union, OHIM in THREE colourways. See here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10772836/OAMI-ONLINE%20-%20RCD-ONLINE%20-%20Design%20consultation%20service%20-%20List%20of%20results2.pdf

How do you get protection? I couldn’t find a clear link from the OHIM-site but a Wikipedia-entry for Community Design says:

“A design is defined as “the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation”.

Designs may be protected if:

  • they are novel, that is if no identical design has been made available to the public;
  • they have individual character, that is the “informed user” would find it different from other designs which are available to the public. Where a design forms part of a more complex product, the novelty and individual character of the design are judged on the part of the design which is visible during normal use.”

Well, there WAS an identical design AND the informed user DIDN’T find it different from other designs. How was it possible that Marimekko was granted protection when it didn’t fill the requirements? Now let’s think about the timeline of this whole thing…

2005- Maria Jauhiainen designs her Gingko
2008- Kristina Isola designs another Gingko
2008- Marimekko files a claim to register a community design
2013- Kristina Isola gets caught stealing one print and is suspected of stealing Gingko too. Marimekko maintains it’s an original.

This is how Marimekko can claim NOW that it’s an original (and not when they originally did so). If you don’t file for a registration, your work is unregistered and holds protection for three years. 2005 to 2008. Therefore, Marimekko most likely knew about the existence of Maria’s work and waited for the three years to pass and then immediately filed registration, giving THEIR copy registered protection of 5 years, which they can now file again every 5 years up to 25 years in total. And let’s look again at the date: 11th of June, 2008. ALMOST 5 years to date, the time to renew their design protection.

Good news is that community design protection can be invalidated and I believe Maria should do so. However none of the links I found gave clear instructions on how this can be done but contacting OHIM might help.

Thrifty Finn- An Investigative Journalist

 

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Design Idol: TOP 10 Maria Prymachenko Prints

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Sometimes you get such a fabulous blog post idea that you just have to do it right away. No matter how hungry you are or how much you have to pee…Writing comes first!

Since Marco Mäkinen voiced that Marimekko should do a Prymachenko-collection, I thought, why not give my suggestions on what prints to use? The prints are in no particular order and I didn’t separate fashion prints and home decor prints but I think you’ll enjoy this regardless. (Click the images to go to the original sources):

Maria Prymachenk, suggestions for Marimekko, folk art, naive, blossom bird on blueberry field

I call this Blossom Bird on a Blueberry Field. This would work as a large repeated pattern where there’d be four repeats or so per curtain panel. A B&W version where everything would be an outline would be fabulous as well. Also, the blueberry bushes could be made into an allover pattern.

Maria Prymachenko, blue and pink fish, ideas for Marimekko

Fishies! I love the pink, yellow and blue in this. How about a pattern were schools of fish would be separated by small gatherings of berries? Not fashion but home furnishings. Tea towels, aprons, oven mitts…Maybe a set of serving dishes?

Maria Prymachenko, folk art, naive, ideas for MarimekkoRiding a Wolf Amongst Acorns. Again, my own name. What I like about this art work are the hot pink acorns and those dotted leaves. If it were printed on a heavy weight canvas to be used on home decor, I’d use all the elements to create an allover pattern. For fashion fabric the best usable elements are the acorns, oak leaves and those dotted thingies in a scattered pattern. It’d be amazing.

dear-taras-hryhorovych-whatever-you-see-here-is-yours, Maria Prymachenko, ideas for Marimekko, folk art, naive
Dear Taras Hryhorovych, Whatever You See Here Is Yours. Yes, that’s the actual name of this piece. There are so many workable elements in here. By removing the grave, I can see this as a print for children too. Both in clothing and in decor. For women’s fashion the florals could be used to create a scattered pattern. Summer evening gown in chiffon? I’d wear it. But then again, you know my penchant for floral prints even if they make me look like a sofa. Not that everyone else would look like one, I just want to it to be known that I acknowledge the fact that I would.

Maria Prymachenko, ideas for Marimekko, folk art, naiveForest Harvest (my invention). I’m not too keen on the background colour but this would be lovely home decor fabric. Remove the characters, enlarge the trees, add those smaller plants and saturate the colours. And voila, you have a very Marimekko-esque print.

Young Lion, Maria Prymachenko, pink, ideas for Marimekko, folk art, naive

Speaking of Marimekko-esque…Young Lion (real name). This is ready to be printed. There are few other animal pieces by Maria so it would be possible to make a serie out of them but I found the other ones bit too scary. Large lions for home decor and small ones for an allover pattern for clothing. This. Is. Wow.

let us go to the betrothal party, Maria Prymachenko, 1968, ideas for Marimekko, folk art, naive Let Us Go to the Betrothal Party, 1968. I love three elements about this piece. The arch, the rug and the oranges. I’d work it in to a stripe pattern for ceramics. Maybe it was my years in Holland that did it for me but blue, white and orange is one of my favourite colour combinations. Ooh, I’d use the couple in a set of dishtowels! Can you imagine receiving a coffee set and couple of those towels as a wedding gift? The collectability factor just went through the roof.

My dear has fallen in love with brigadier, Maria Prymachenko, ideas for Marimekko, folk art, naive My Dear Has Fallen in Love with Brigadier, 1972. Sensing from the tone, both the title and the colours, Maria wasn’t too happy about that. The image would need a lot of work, but there are lot of elements that can be used in a print. The girl. The shutters. The details in the dress. Definitely more home decor material. Maybe even some small ornaments?

Side note…Arabia and Marimekko should make a series of ornaments based on Maria Prymachenko’s characters! Limited Edition, 12 ornaments, available for a short period of time! There could be also a special packaging made of wood for collectors!

Me, the merchandising genius me!

Maria Prymachenko, sunflowers, ideas for Marimekko, folk art, naiveSunflowers! This is simple, either use this as is (only do bit technical cleaning) or separate the blossoms and create an allover pattern. Would work for clothing, home decor, footwear (have you seen the Marc Jacobs Daisy-shoes?), ceramics and other merchandise. 90′s nostalgia is here and the sunflower was the symbol of the era. Hipsters, ravers, 90′s rockers and people who just like sunflowers. Target audiences!!! I just thought. The background should be inky blue. Almost black but not quite. I bet that’s expensive to produce. (But so luxurious and fabulous!)

Four Drunkards Riding a Bird, Maria Prymachenko, 1976, ideas for Marimekko, naive, folk art Four Drunkards Riding a Bird, 1976. Am I the only one or does Maria really tell how it is? This one is a tricky one. I don’t think this is directly repeatable but if those men were made into separate characters, as well as the bird and then combined with the various decorative elements, it’d work as print. The print then could be used in a set of Jonathan Adler-esque ceramics. Remember those cute salt&pepper-sets? Or does he still do them?

So here is my list of Maria Prymachenko prints I think Marimekko could use. What do you think of my ideas? Let me know your own ideas and thoughts in the comments and if you know any other good Maria prints, link up!

Thrifty Finn- Master of Merchandising and Inventor of Ideas

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