Finally someone did it! A christmas calendar with a twist. Laura Väinölä gathered 24 designers to do a box of surprise.

I was happy to participate since this is really something that I have been waiting for! Other designers are Daniel Palillo, Mikael Kivelä, Ok Do, K.I. Kinnunen, Chris Bolton, Sherpa, Kasino and Noora Niinikoski to name a few. Can't wait to see them!

You can get your own calendar from My o My, Skanno pop-up Store, Pino, Design Forum, Wunder, Helsinki 10, Papershop, Akateeminen kirjakauppa, Kiasma, EMMA, Taidehalli, Designmuseo and Ateneum.

Great great great News! We won! World Design Capital 2012 is Helsinki!  

“We will invite all citizens, enterprises and organizations in Helsinki, as well as visiting design professionals and enthusiasts, to participate in the preparations and the events of the design year 2012. This is a major challenge for us to use design in Helsinki and in the other participating cities to further the development of our cities from the social, economic and cultural perspectives, as the World Design Capital project states in its designation criteria,” says Helsinki Mayor Jussi Pajunen.

You got Werklig's commitment. Our input is available in any case related to WDC. Werklig ♥ Helsinki. Proud citizens. We want to be part of this. 

Altogether 46 cities from 27 countries applied for the designation. An international jury first shortlisted Helsinki and Eindhoven of the Netherlands and then awarded the designation to Helsinki after careful consideration.  

Fairness. Thank You!

This morning this amazing fog surrounded the city. The market place looked absolutely beautiful on my way to work.

You should definitely go and check Mark Kuivanen's new silkscreen-prints at Myymälä2. This one man exhibition is dedicated to Kazumasa Nagai, Sergei Parajanov, Masaaki Otsubo, El Lissitzky, Ikko Tanaka, Francisco Infante, Roy Lichtenstein, Shigeo Fukuda, Takenobu Igarashi, Andrei Tarkovsky, Yusaku Kamekura, Shunichi Nakajima, Stanley Kubrick, Kazimir Malevitch, Tadanori Yokoo, Victor Vasarely, Toshihiro Katayama, Michelangelo Antonioni, Kiyoshi Awazu, Joan Miro, Alexandro Jodorowsky, Tomoyuki Hasumi, Mitsuo Katsui, family & friends.

The works are a great combination of simple forms, pixels and surfaces and have influences of the great artist above. All the posters are hand printed and are sold as limited edition of black&white screen prints.

The exhibition is open 18-29.11. 2009 at Myymälä2
Uudenmaankatu 23 00100 Helsinki Finland
Wed - Sat 12-18, Sun 12-17 

The exhibition is supported by Grafia

Organizations spend a vast amount of money and resources to differentiate their visual identity from others. They hire an agency to create a perfect visual match to their strategic objectives. Countless hours are spend in honing the logos and emblems to differentiate the look & feel from the competitors. While typography is an integral part of the identity, being so pervasive it's usually left up to agencies to decide. Then is the third integral part; the color palette. 

When it comes to deciding the colors, the decision is usually driven by history of the organization, communication objectives, strategy and oftentimes the clients own personal preferences. The decision criteria is true and valid to all visual elements. Surely colors affect our emotions but those emotional associations are tied to our cultural background, personal experience and associations, even to our age and gender. The crucial thing about colors is that all of them have both negative and positive associations. This equals that there's is no all-evasive positive or negative color. Therefore, there are no right or wrong colors. 

All in all, if the color does not matter that much, why is this still the reality? 

Traditional confectionery

Breakfast & Festivity. Today we celebrate Anssi. HBD!

Waiting for Birthday lunch. Joyfulness. Happy Werklig. 

A dream came true. And this time, not only the new & proud shopkeepers' dream, but all the other like-mindeds' dreams as well. Heartfelt thanks to Anna & Tea and good luck! One reason to love Helsinki more than ever.

Anna's graphic and package design degree from Institute of Design, Lahti University of Applied Sciences gives a convincing touch to Papershop's selection, and especially for their tailor-made section and opportunities: A small or larger party, family gathering, weddings, or just as a gift for someone's special day – you can order customized paper products from Papershop, let them design complete execution inline with your needs. Each project will be customized for your individual needs in good sense of style.

Personally hand-picked premium paper products for you. And the website just speaks for itself. Say no more.  

 

"It all started in New York at Kate´s Paperie which we love love love, where we once again shopped till we dropped. We wanted to bring the same joy to all the other paperjunkies, and that´s how the Papershop got started. Our stock is filled from our favorite producers and more is coming all the time. We hope you enjoy our collection as much as we do".

Papershop, Meritullinkatu 21

"Our selection at Papershop covers paper products from designers around the world that have delighted especially in what it comes to quality, sustainability, ecology as well as ethics. Most of our products are produced by the designers themselves, and all use paper as main material. We are all the time looking for new and interesting things out of paper, so our selection changes with seasons, trends, as well as new innovations." 

P.S. Check out Papershop's christmas cards and gift wraps!

PP.S. As much worth supporting and liking, another pearl: TIKAU. Both shops run by energetic and ambitious women.

This highly topical piece of art hit us on Monday. It's amazing! It was found from our courtyard's trashcan. Thrown away. 

Reminds me of The Cove. In theaters now.