Scandinavian Morning in Athens The Flower Pot lamp, designed by Verner Panton in 1969, is the lamp of its era and a good example of Scandinavian design. In the era of the 60s, the flower power generation took over declaring love, peace and harmony for everyone; students revolted in France and Italy, and man was sent to the Moon. The design for that era was bright, colorful and extremely playful – exactly what Verner Panton knew best. He designed his lamp with the happenings of the era in mind – therefore the name, The Flower Pot lamp. At the same time as being the voice of the hippie era, the design of The Flower Pot lamp is simple and minimalistic like Scandinavian design is thought to be. The lamp consists of two semicircular, different sized spheres facing each other, and a simple stand for the table lamp models. The colors of the lamp are all bright but only one color is used throughout the whole lamp; this simple design and style makes the lamp an imposing design piece. That was probably also in Verner Panton’s mind when he designed this lamp: for him, the color was even more important than form as he believed that colors aroused feelings. When offered to the market, The Flower Pot lamp became incredibly popular. The pendants hung in restaurants and exhibitions, and soon in everybody’s homes as well. When many of them with different colors were placed near each other, an almost psychedelic atmosphere was created. Related to the Panton’s design it is often said, that Verner Panton successfully interpreted the times of the hippie movement and Moon landing. One good example can be seen in Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, where one of the Verner Panton’s chairs is featured. And when this interpretation is
added to the fact that Panton’s design is truly Scandinavian, one may understand that Panton was able to create undeniably unique pieces of design. Someone has said that “an object cannot become a design icon until it has stood the test of time and appears quite naturally in different settings, giving it a symbolic aura of its own.” We agree that The Flower Pot is just that. Not all Scandinavian design reflects the Scandinavian nature or climate, but it can still be genuinely Scandinavian. One good example of this is the Kaj Franck’s “Morning in Athens” sculpture designed for Iittala. For this sculpture, the designer is told to have been inspired by the beauty of Greece. “Morning in Athens” is made of five transparent, handblown glass orbs attached together by a pendant. There are three different combinations, varying the size of the orbs and their positioning in the pendant. When the pendants move, the orbs make a sound that reminds one of the church bells in Athens on a clear Sunday morning. Although the inspiration comes from Greece, the style and disposition follows the Scandinavian tradition. The sculpture is a minimalistic design produced with mass-production methods and therefore available for all. It was originally manufactured at the Nuutajärvi factory from 1954 to 1975, and reproduced for two years during 1992-1994 (nb: The Nuutajärvi factory is the oldest glass factory in Finland, and is well-known for its hand-blown glass). While celebrating Kaj Frank’s 100th birthday anniversary, Iittala brought “Morning in Athens” back to production again. The length of the one pendant is 63 centimeters, so there are many variations of its use. It can be hung next to a window, when the beauty of the hand-blown glass comes out with light reflecting from the orbs; it can be use as singular design object or with many of the pendants together, as a screen or divider between spaces. The church bell noise comes out only when two or more pendants are hanging next to each other, so one should
consider owning more than one of them! Tasaraita, which is Finnish for equal stripes, is a Finnish design icon. The simplest pattern – two different colors of stripes is repeated – was designed by Annika Rimala in 1968 for Marimekko. Tasaraita is probably the most popular, wellknown and widely used design pattern in Finland. Today, Tasaraita can be seen in coffee cups as well. Tasaraita coffee cups are designed by Sami Ruotsalainen based on the original print of Annika Rimala. The cups come in two different shapes: one does not have a handle with a volume of 2 deciliters, and the other bigger one has a handle and a volume of 2,5 deciliters. The former comes in colors of white and red, or white and yellow, and the bigger one with stripes of white and red, or white and black.
The look of the Tasaraita cup is traditional, yet modern. The shape of the cup is from Marimekko’s Oiva cups, which are also designed by Sami Ruotsalainen. The look of the cup is direct, but some extra softness is provided by rounded edges and ends. Generally the smaller, handle-less cup looks more rounded or “soft” than its bigger brother.
If one puts these cups on the table in Finland, everyone knows the reference and the talk will turn to nostalgic memories related to the Tasaraita pattern. However, Tasaraita cups do not need to have this history to survive, as they look good without the reference points as well. The cups can be easily combined with any white tableware, specially with the Marimekko’s Oiva series, where the form is the same. It has always been the idea of Marimekko to create something new and give an opportunity to young talented designers. This time they have taken something from their tradition and still have been able to create a new, fresh way to look at everyday objects.The first time I saw Vattenblänk fabric from Marimekko, I could not believe it was really part of the Marimekko’s collection. On a white background there are shapes of light blue, pink, green and indigo mixed around and on top of each other. It didn’t look at all like the stylish Marimekko patterns I was aware of. And that was the reason I wanted to know more about the fabric.
Vattenblänk is Swedish, meaning the shimmering of water. That has been the designer Astrid Sylwan’s inspiration when creating the pattern. It illustrates the movement of the water, but includes a powerful element and edgy shadows that is also present in the water movements. The designer is the Belgian born Astrid Sylwan, who currently lives in Sweden. She is a visual artist, whose work is characterized by strong colors and a clear post-painting. Vattenblänk is actually a really typical piece of work from her – all her work produces the similar kind of patterns and reflections. In her interview by Marimekko she tells that she gets inspired by immense art experiences, but tries
to find the inspiration for her works from within herself – and relaxes by doing garden work. But how on Earth did Astrid Sylwan end up collaborating with Marimekko? It was Marimekko’s artistic director, Minna Kemell-Kutvonen, who saw her work in a Swedish interior design magazine and contacted the artist. Astrid Sylwan was interested straight away: in her interview with Marimekko she tells how she lived her childhood surrounded by Marimekko as her mother decorated her room with Marimekko fabrics (namely the Unikko design by Maija Isola). It was actually challenging to create the shapes and the forms of Vattenbänk. Later the artist has said that putting nine different colors in industrially printed fabric was not an easy task, but in the end she was satisfied.
And now comes the punch line: Astrid Sylwan has said that her Marimekko design is similar to her paintings. Their design is balancing next to breakdown. Her artwork – and this is what she says – are pretty, but they do not try to please or charm. After reading this I respect her as an artist, making a bold movement into industrial design. But still, I do not like the fabric.
Contact http://www.finnishdesignshop.com