marimekko in town

First Frida and Diego at the AGO, now Marimekko, With Love at the Textile Museum... Toronto keeps us well entertained and educated.

For those not familiar with the Finnish company, Marimekko is one of the most iconographic textile houses since the early 50's, when it took the world by storm under the vigilant eye of Armi Ratia and the extraordinary group of designers she recruited to help her launch and establish her vision. One of the most representative designs? Maija Isola's Unikko in red.

Unikko by Maija Isola for Marimekko, 1965.

I have no recollection of when my infatuation with the brand started, I know however, that it was something akin to what the Italians mean when they say "colpo di fulmine". The moment I set eyes on those bold, colourful, unassumingly beautiful designs, I was hooked for life.

MARIMEKKO INSPIRED
During our members meeting at CTS, Rachel suggested we offered a workshop at the studio to tie-in with the Marimekko show at the Textile Museum, and I'm very happy to say I will be teaching it, yay! So in the spirit of it all, Monday, last week, I visited the exhibit, which by the way, had only been open for a couple of hours. It was most interesting to learn about Karelia, the Toronto link with Marimekko from the very late 50's to the late 70's. After the show, and while waiting in the car for E to come out of school, I doodled three designs in my notebook, two of which I knew were ready to go. Just like that! Marimekko inspired, indeed.

Sunday was spent at the studio, finishing films, shooting screens and printing a few samples  of one of the designs in very different colourways, I named it "pebbles".

I'm posting the process, from ideation to print: 1-as a memory of this swift project which helped  review the steps involved in the printing process with my Monday class, 2-to gain insight regarding the outline and content for the workshop, 3-to procure a production-ready design.

Preliminary sketches in the pages of my "handbag" notebook. Hardware equipment: A letter-size photocopier. The design was scaled up to fit comfortably within the screen. Positives (or films) high-tech tools: Mylar, India ink in a chopstick and brush marker, opaque marker, fine sharpie, scissors, utility knife, yellow colour pencil, Canson black paper (for the ground color) and double-sided tape.

Screens shot, no touch-ups necessary. Plenty of tape is needed to mask the edges.

The ground colour (orange) is printed first. Once dry, the outline colour (red) is printed on top. The mysterious object on the side of the screen on the top left image is a brick covered in plastic bags. It helps hold the screen down so it doesn't shift during printing.

Printed samples, in various colourways. The preliminary palettes came from card stock in very vivid colours.

I now need to figure out end-uses (besides pillows), any ideas?

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seeing red

A deluge of red, that is what happened on Sunday at the studio. After pondering a lot on the matter, (red has not been part of my palette in quite a while), I decided to print some tea towels in this colour, given that a lot of the feedback reflected on the absence of red, which obviously raised a [red-ha!] flag.
When receiving feedback, it is our absolute responsibility as designers/artists/makers to edit the information that is coming our way, after all, even though we are not taking dictation, we should always be genuinely interested in what our audience has to say. So, if one person mentions this colour is necessary, you take note of that, but when at different times numerous people tell you to seriously consider it, you pay close attention. After all, the "market is speaking", and you want the product to do well (this would be a completely different conversation if we were referring to a fine art piece). In my experience this is not an easy colour to work with, mainly because it has to be the "right" one. Fortunately, the "right" hue had already been mixed, as I had originally planned to include it in the pillows colour ways for Talavera.

In preparation for last Sunday, and considering I had no umbrella to help me through the wet weather we've been getting, I treated myself to a beautiful red marimekko umbrella, and allowed myself a few contemplative moments under the cover of such fabulous redness.

Detail: marimekko red kivet umbrella.

The first two images (for Antigua) are for Roohi. She very articulately delivered a solid discourse as to why red needed to be included.

From left to right: 1-Antigua collection, main design to the right. 2-Antigua second coordinate. 3-Talavera in red.

REGISTRATION--PART DEUX
The matter of registration was brought up not too long ago (see post for Monday, 15 October 2012). The second system was put to the test on Sunday, rendering excellent results. By drawing a straight line (on tape) on the drop cloth, the registration marks were easy to follow, with no gaps or overlaps in sight. Four yards of gorgeousness.

The song "ojalá que llueva café", perfectly captures the sounds of "Talavera in red" in the form of an incomparable "son huasteco". An excellent cover by Café Tacuba from their album Avalancha De Éxitos, 1997 (the original song is by Juan Luis Guerra). Enjoy!