Better late than never

Fashion Revolution day was already over a week ago, on 24th April. This is my contribution to it. The clothes were worn indside-out and pictures taken on that day, only the post is late.

The Fashion Revolution day tries to evoke curiosity and awareness of who made your clothes. It uses the power of fashion to change the attitude in fashion business towards more responsible manufacturing and buying of clothes and accessories. Pretty hard task, but I'm hopeful that every year things get better if we all participate to impulse the change. Little by little.

Me wearing a linen shirt by HAKEI, made in Spain, and my son 

is wearing Marimekko's stripes, made in Finland.

More granny's squares

I made this scarf actually before the blanket. The story was that in 2012 I was planning to sent the yarns to my mum so she could crochet this scarf for me. Give her something to do basically. Unfortunately my mum passed away before I got to do this so finally I made the scarf by myself and it took quite a while. Last year I had it ready but didn't use it not even once. My plan was to buy a jeans jacket and wear it with that but until now I haven't bought the jacket. The one that I would like to have from Pepe Jeans has never been in sales and I find 145 eur a bit expensive for a jeans jacket. Anyway this year I bought a wool coat from Mango and it pairs well with it. I also have a military green parka and these granny's squares fits that too.

The yarn is Drops Alpaca, 100% pure alpaca from the best yarn shop "All you knit is love" in Barcelona.

A good old Grandma's square

As a like handicrafts I was delighted to do a blanket to my baby. Nice to do crochet and have a purpose for it. Crochet is nice, but many times I find it hard to imagine something useful to do. Well, this time a blanket was more than welcome and as it is for a baby its not too big so pretty fast to finalize. As I like old things, vintage etc. a good old granny's square was a perfect pattern to do. Color inspiration I got from an old Gloria magazine where there was a picture of one big blanket. The yarn is "7 veljestä" from Novita bought already in summer from Finland. Unfortunately the yarn has 20% of polyester in it, I would have preferred 100% wool, but as they had a great selection of colors I decided to accept the polyester as otherwise I probably wouldn't have made the blanket. This was an easy option this time.

The final blanket

Color options for the blanket

Organic, raw and ecological

Last year just before my baby was born I received a package from Finland. It contained a magazine about babies, kitchen towel, ecological cleaning rags and raw chocolate. What a wonderful gift! I was excited about all things and apart from the Vauva-magazine other stuff were new acquintances for me.

I had never heart about Kierti, a Finnish company started in 2008. All their products focus on sustainability. The items are mostly cleaning items. They sell washable bamboo and hemp cleaning rags and also hemp yarn if you prefer to produce your cleaning rag by yourself.

Other new thing is raw chocolate. In Helsinki there is the company Goodio with a big heart and sweet tooth that is producing small scale raw chocolate. Raw chocolate is chocolate that is produced using only original raw materials and without using heating in the production. This way the chocolate doesn't loose all its precious materials; vitamins, enzymes etc. The taste is quite different than milk chocolate, but a bit similar as dark chocolate. I recommend to try this out.

More of Klaus Haapaniemi

In my last post I didn't really present the Finnish illustrator Klaus Haapaniemi so now here I will do it. For the first time I got to know him in 2007 when he illustrated ceramic collection Taika for Arabia, the Finnish dinner ware company. (Arabia is an old, famous ceramic factory in Finland that started to create dinner ware for Finnish households already back in 1873.)

In 2007 Taika was something new as the illustration was so fabulous and not anything like the typical minimalism that describes the Finnish design in general. It was very well welcomed and today if you pass by Helsinki airport inside the tax free area you can find  cafeteria that serves the coffees in these Klaus Haapaniemi Taika-mugs. When we were enjoying the last coffee before our return flight to Barcelona my boyfriend wanted to rob a mug, but as I was with him I strongly forbidded it. Gosh!

In 2010 Klaus Haapaniemi has founded a design studio with Mia Wallenius and as they describes it "Their design approach is influenced by nature, Finnish folklore, fantasy and traditional decorative arts with modern twist." In their web shop there is plenty, plenty of textile items shawls, pillows, rugs etc. to purchase.

Taika, Arabia; illustration Klaus Haapaniemi; form Heikki Orvola

Korento, Arabia; illustration Klaus Haapaniemi; form Heikki Orvola. In summer I found this on sale at the airport of Helsinki and as I tried to be reasonable I didn't buy it, a fact I regret now.

In 2011 Valio made a campaign inviting various artist to illustrate their milk carton. This is Klaus Haapaniemi's version of it.

Here some examples of what the Design Studio has in their web shop.

Bees blanket, lamb wool

Forest square, silk brocade woven on loom

Special Christmas paper decorations

Running fox-cushion, printed on linen