Marimekko

Renowned for its original prints and colours, the Finnish textile and clothing design company Marimekko is founded in 1951 by visionary designer Armi Ratia and her husband Viljo. 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 at the 1957 Triennale in Milan. Marimekko not only sparked an international revolution in post-WWII pattern and textile production but captured a new philosophy based on the power of design in everyday life – Marimekko was “a cultural phenomenon guiding the quality of living”. Based in Helsinki, Marimekko has made important contributions to fashion especially in the 1960s. It is particularly noted for brightly coloured printed fabrics and simple styles, used both in women's garments and in home furnishings. Two designers in particular, Vuokko Nurmesniemi with bold stripes, and Maija Isola with large simple flowered prints, created hundreds of distinctive patterns and helped to make Marimekko a household name across the world.

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