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While still a student, she was noticed in 1949 by Marimekko's founder, [[Armi Ratia]], for works including ''Amfora''.{{sfn|Aav|2003|p=150}}{{sfn|Shimatsuka|2012|p=25}} Ratia hired Isola to work for Printex, the company which gave birth to [[Marimekko]].<ref name="FinnishDesign">{{cite web |title=Maija Isola |url=http://finnishdesign.com/maija-isola/ |publisher=Finnish Desigh |accessdate=24 April 2017}}</ref> She became principal textile designer for Marimekko,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://designfinland.blogs.com/designfinland/2006/08/maija_isola_pat.html |title=Maija Isola patterns for Marimekko |date=31 August 2006 |publisher=Design Finland |accessdate=5 March 2010}}</ref> creating some eight or ten patterns each year.{{sfn|Aav|2003|p=150}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Byars |first=Mel |title="Isola, Maija (1927–2001)" |work=The design encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Q1IAQAAIAAJ |year=2004 |publisher=Laurence King}}</ref>
While still a student, she was noticed in 1949 by Marimekko's founder, [[Armi Ratia]], for works including ''Amfora''.{{sfn|Aav|2003|p=150}}{{sfn|Shimatsuka|2012|p=25}} Ratia hired Isola to work for Printex, the company which gave birth to [[Marimekko]].<ref name="FinnishDesign">{{cite web |title=Maija Isola |url=http://finnishdesign.com/maija-isola/ |publisher=Finnish Desigh |accessdate=24 April 2017}}</ref> She became principal textile designer for Marimekko,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://designfinland.blogs.com/designfinland/2006/08/maija_isola_pat.html |title=Maija Isola patterns for Marimekko |date=31 August 2006 |publisher=Design Finland |accessdate=5 March 2010}}</ref> creating some eight or ten patterns each year.{{sfn|Aav|2003|p=150}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Byars |first=Mel |title="Isola, Maija (1927–2001)" |work=The design encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Q1IAQAAIAAJ |year=2004 |publisher=Laurence King}}</ref>

Between 1957 and 1963 she made her first series of works on a single theme, ''Luonto'' (Nature). It consisted of some 30 designs based on plants pressed by her daughter Kristina, starting at age 11.{{sfn|Shimatsuka|2012|p=31}}


In 1959 she married the lawyer and judge Jorma Tissari. He was a wealthy art-lover with a spacious home in the centre of [[Helsinki]]. When Isola wanted more creative freedom, he negotiated a new contract with Marimekko for her, allowing her to work in her own way.{{sfn|Shimatsuka|2012|p=54}}
In 1959 she married the lawyer and judge Jorma Tissari. He was a wealthy art-lover with a spacious home in the centre of [[Helsinki]]. When Isola wanted more creative freedom, he negotiated a new contract with Marimekko for her, allowing her to work in her own way.{{sfn|Shimatsuka|2012|p=54}}

Revision as of 09:11, 15 May 2017

Maija Isola
At work, sitting cross-legged, paintbrush and paintpot in hand
Born(1927-03-15)15 March 1927
Arolammi[1], Riihimäki, Finland
Died3 March 2001(2001-03-03) (aged 73)
Helsinki
NationalityFinnish
OccupationTextile designer
Known forUnikko and other Marimekko patterns
Spouse(s)Georg Leander
Jaakko Somersalo
Jorma Tissari

Maija Isola (15 March 1927 – 3 March 2001) was a leading Finnish designer of printed textiles, creating over 500 patterns including Unikko ("Poppy"). Her bold colourful designs made Marimekko famous in the 1960s. She also had a career as a visual artist.[2] Her daughter Kristina Isola in turn became a Marimekko designer, for a time collaborating with Maija.

Undisputedly the most famous textile designer .. at Marimekko[3]

Biography

Early life

Isola was the youngest of three daughters of Mauno and Toini Isola. Mauno was a farmer who wrote song lyrics including a popular Finnish Christmas carol.[1] They lived on the family farm and helped out with agricultural work in the summer. The girls made paper dolls with elegant dresses for their homemade paper dollshouse with elaborately decorated interiors.[4]

Isola studied painting at the Helsinki Central School of Industrial Arts.[5] In 1945, as the Second World War (with fighting between Finland and its neighbour, Russia) came to an end, her life radically changed: her father died, and she became pregnant. On 22 July 1945 she married the commercial artist Georg Leander: their daughter Kristina was born in January 1946.[6]

In 1948, she went to Oslo, visiting the Van Gogh exhibition and seeing the Edvard Munch paintings there. She was inspired by a display of classical era pots at the Oslo Museum of Craft and Design to create her Amfora ("Amphora") print.[6] The marriage with Leander did not last long, and by 1949 she was travelling Europe with the painter Jaakko ("Jaska") Somersalo, who became her second husband. He taught her the technique of woodcut printing and inspired her to paint. They divorced in 1955.[7]

Marimekko

While still a student, she was noticed in 1949 by Marimekko's founder, Armi Ratia, for works including Amfora.[5][6] Ratia hired Isola to work for Printex, the company which gave birth to Marimekko.[8] She became principal textile designer for Marimekko,[9] creating some eight or ten patterns each year.[5][10]

Between 1957 and 1963 she made her first series of works on a single theme, Luonto (Nature). It consisted of some 30 designs based on plants pressed by her daughter Kristina, starting at age 11.[11]

In 1959 she married the lawyer and judge Jorma Tissari. He was a wealthy art-lover with a spacious home in the centre of Helsinki. When Isola wanted more creative freedom, he negotiated a new contract with Marimekko for her, allowing her to work in her own way.[12]

The so-called collaboration between Isola and Ratia was an "unusual creative power game" characterised by "vitality and inventiveness"[13] rather than a harmonious understanding.[13] The tone for this was set when, in 1964, Isola "provocatively"[13] defied Ratia's statement that she hated floral patterns,[13] setting the style of the company by painting the famous Unikko (Poppy) pattern in bold pink, red and black on white;[14] the pattern has been in production ever since.[15] It was one of some eight floral designs that Ratia chose from Isola's portfolio in that period.[16]

From 1965 to 1967, Isola worked on the theme of sun and sea, creating at least nine designs used by Marimekko including Albatrossi (Albatross), Meduusa (Jellyfish), and Osteri (Oyster).[17]

In 1970 she travelled on her own to Paris to get away from her marriage and family commitments. There she had a love affair with the Egyptian scholar Ahmed Al-Haggagi.[18] In 1971 she separated from Jorma, realizing that she preferred to live alone.[19]

In 1974, Isola designed the popular pattern Primavera, consisting of stylized Marigold flowers; this has since been printed in many different colours for tablecloths, plates and other items.[20] From 1980 to 1987, Isola designed patterns for Marimekko with her daughter, Kristina, who became one of Marimekko's chief designers;[21][22] Kristina joined Marimekko when she was 18.[23] During her 40-year career with Marimekko, Maija Isola created a "staggering"[24] 500 prints for the company.[24] Among the best-known are Kivet (stones) and Kaivo (well); they continue to sell in the 21st century.[25][26]

Retirement

From 1987, when she retired, Isola worked on painting, not textiles, until her death on 3 March 2001.[22] Her designs, and Marimekko, went into eclipse. In 1991, the new head of Marimekko, Kirsti Paakkanen successfully relaunched Isola's Fandango,[27] but it was not until the late 1990s that Marimekko again became widely popular. Its renewed fortunes were based on "classic" Isola patterns from the 1950s and 1960s.[28]

Reception

The glowing colours and bold patterns in Marimekko owe much to Maija Isola's design and example. A roll of Unikko is second from the bottom of the fabric stand

According to FinnStyle, Isola was "undisputedly the most famous textile designer to have existed at Marimekko",[3] and she "created over 500 prints during her long and colorful employment."[3] Her work enabled the company to become a world-leading international fashion trendsetter.[5]

Ivar Ekman, writing in the New York Times, quotes Marianne Aav, director of the Helsinki Design Museum: "What we understand as the Marimekko style is very much based on what Maija Isola was doing".[22] Ekman comments "The range of prints that Isola produced for Marimekko is astounding", as the patterns span "minimalistic geometric", "toned-down naturalistic" and "explosion of colors".[22]

Marion Hume, writing in Time Magazine, explains that Isola "was able to mastermind an astonishing range, from the intricate and folkloric Ananas (1962)—which remains one of the most popular prints for the home market—to the radically simple, dramatically enlarged, asymmetrical Unikko poppy (1964), originally in red and in blue, which may be one of the most widely recognized prints on earth."[29]

According to Tamsin Blanchard, writing in The Observer, "The designs of Maija Isola - one of the company's original and longest-standing designers - have stood the test of time."[30] Blanchard describes as "timeless" Isola's 1972 Wind design "with its feathery organic tree skeletons in silhouette", her 1957 Putinotko "spiky black-and-white print", her 1963 Melon and her 1956 Stones.[30]

Hannah Booth, writing in The Guardian, explains that Marimekko's founder, Armi Ratia, "recruited Maija Isola, the first and most important of many young female designers, to create original prints".[31] She describes Isola as unconventional, leaving her daughter Kristina "to grow up with her grandmother so she could travel the world to find inspiration for her textiles".[31] Booth quotes Finnish novelist Kaari Utrio as saying Isola was "a dangerously original character"; she "belonged to a trailblazing generation" enabling young women to move freely into the arts.[31]

Lesley Jackson, in a chapter titled Op, Pop, and Psychedelia, writes that "from Finland the exuberant all-conquering Marimekko burst on to the international scene" in the 1960s; she illustrates this with one pattern by Vuokko Nurmesniemi, and three by Isola – Lokki, Melooni, and inevitably Unikko.[32][a]

  • Of Lokki, Jackson writes "Isola revolutionized design with her simple, bold, flat patterns, printed on a dramatic scale. The design, whose title means 'seagull', evokes the lapping of waves and the flapping of birds' wings."[33]
  • Of the famous Unikko, Jackson explains "This huge, exploded poppy pattern embodies the unbridled design confidence of the mid-1960s, and presages the ebullience and sizzling colours of the flower power era."[33]

Hanna-Liisa Ylipoti notes that "The themes of many Marimekko designs are also very Finnish, portraying Finnish nature. For example, Maija Isola created her Luonto (nature) design [series] using actual plant specimens".[34]

Legacy

A Finnair Airbus A340-300 flies painted with Isola's 'Marimekko Unikko' pattern in 2015.

Aav noted that "As the twenty-first century gets underway, Marimekko is experiencing a resurgence of interest and appreciation—a true revival. Maija Isola's Unikko pattern, designed almost forty years ago, blooms as never before."[35]

In 2011, Marimekko flew a hot-air balloon decorated with an enormous version of Unikko over Helsinki, showing that the pattern remains iconic nearly half a century later.[36] Marimekko's marketing policy is to reissue "classics from its fifty-year back catalogue, notably a large group of patterns from the 1950s and 1960s by Maija Isola."[21]

Somce 2012, Finland's airline Finnair has been flying an Airbus A340-300 to its Asia destinations sporting a blue Unikko print, while an Airbus A330 painted in an Anniversary Unikko has been serving its intercontinental routes.[37]

Isola was described in 2013 as a style icon.[38]

Exhibitions

Contemporary

  • Design in Scandinavia, USA 1954,[13] 1960
  • Finnish Exhibition in Germany 1956
  • Triennale Milan 1954, 1957[13]
  • World Exhibition Brussels Formes Scandinaves 1958[39]
  • Louvre, Paris Finlandia

Retrospective

Notes

  1. ^ Among the best-known of the roughly 500 patterns that Isola designed, other than those already mentioned, are Primavera (Spring), Seireeni, Joonas, Tulipunainen (Tulips), Verso, Viitta, Hevosvaras, Bambu (Bamboo), Appelsiini (Oranges), Tuuli, Niili, Pariisin portit, Pepe, Tantsu, Satula, and Vaarallinen Planeetta.

References

  1. ^ a b Shimatsuka 2012, p. 18.
  2. ^ "Maija Isola". Marimekko. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  3. ^ a b c "FinnStyle:Maija Isola". Finnish Designers: Maija Isola. FinnStyle. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  4. ^ Shimatsuka 2012, pp. 20–22.
  5. ^ a b c d Aav 2003, p. 150.
  6. ^ a b c Shimatsuka 2012, p. 25.
  7. ^ Shimatsuka 2012, p. 29.
  8. ^ "Maija Isola". Finnish Desigh. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Maija Isola patterns for Marimekko". Design Finland. 31 August 2006. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  10. ^ Byars, Mel (2004). "Isola, Maija (1927–2001)". Laurence King. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |work= ignored (help)
  11. ^ Shimatsuka 2012, p. 31.
  12. ^ Shimatsuka 2012, p. 54.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Aav 2003, p. 151.
  14. ^ "Marimekko Timeline". Timeline. Marimekko.com. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  15. ^ Kueber, Pam (17 October 2010). "RetroRenovation: Marimekko Unikko". Marimekko Unikko by Maija Isola, 1964. Retro Renovation. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  16. ^ Shimatsuka 2012, p. 64.
  17. ^ Shimatsuka 2012, p. 72.
  18. ^ Shimatsuka 2012, p. 102.
  19. ^ Shimatsuka 2012, p. 87.
  20. ^ "Primavera". Primavera. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  21. ^ a b Jackson 2007, p. 200.
  22. ^ a b c d Ekman, Ivar (23 August 2005). "New York Times". Nostalgia for a modern Finnish designer. New York Times. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  23. ^ "Maija & Kristina Isola". FinnStyle. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  24. ^ a b "Maija Isola: art, fabric, Marimekko". Perimeter Books. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  25. ^ "Maija Isola". Marimekko. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  26. ^ Suhonen, Pekko (1986). Phenomenon Marimekko. Marimekko Oy. p. 35.
  27. ^ Shimatsuka 2012, p. 148.
  28. ^ Shimatsuka 2012, p. 150.
  29. ^ Hume, Marion (April 9, 2008). "Time Magazine". Luxury Source. Time Magazine. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  30. ^ a b Blanchard, Tamsin (20 May 2001). "The Observer". Interiors:Marimekko:The Finnish Line. The Guardian. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  31. ^ a b c Booth, Hannah (5 September 2005). "The Guardian: Life & Style: Women". Flower power. The Guardian. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  32. ^ Jackson 2007, pp. 136–137.
  33. ^ a b Jackson 2007, p. 136.
  34. ^ Ylipoti, Hanna-Liisa (3 February 2011). "Research". Marimekko's Path to Success During the 1950s and 60s. FAST-FIN-1 (TRENAK1) Finnish Institutions Research Paper. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  35. ^ Aav 2003, p. 149.
  36. ^ "Unikko hot-air balloon". Marimekko Unikko hot-air balloon flying above the silhouette of Helsinki. Marimekko. 22 June 2011. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  37. ^ "Finnair and Marimekko's design collaboration". Finnair. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  38. ^ Azzarito, Amy (15 November 2013). "Style Icon: Maija Isola". Design Sponge. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  39. ^ Aav 2003, p. 152.
  40. ^ Retrospective exhibition at Designmuseo
  41. ^ Blueprint, Issues 232–234. Wordsearch. 2005. p. 87.
  42. ^ Exhibition at Design Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
  43. ^ Exhibition Marimekko at Sem in Ljubljana
  44. ^ Exhibition at Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Bibliography

External links

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