Moi! The sound and form of Finland

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Helsinki, Finland will next year take over as “Design Capital of the World.” To celebrate that happy occasion, the Finns plan early next month to share their best sounds and design with their Swedish cousins. The art gallery of the Finnish Institute at Snickarbacken 4 will spotlight illustration agency Agent Pekka, interior architect Vertti Kivi, artist Janna Syvänoja, architect Pekka Harni, fashion designer Jasmiine Julin-Aro and textile artist Heli Turoi-Luutonen.
Just across the street, at the S7 gallery, one of Finland’s most successful independent fashion labels—Ivana Helsinki – will be staging a separate exhibit of their “Velvet Lake” AW/11 collection (slideshow above). We can expect to see handmade Finnish knits, feminine printed silk and velvet dresses featuring peacock feather and “Jack Frost” embroideries, crushed velvet coats and “fluffed” knit dresses.
During the same period—October 4 to November 3, the Moi! Music festival will present the best of modern Finnish popular music, everything from pop to elektro, world music to hard rock.

Candy for the eyes by Pernilla Sylwan

Chewy Rat

Several of the broaches and necklaces created by Pernilla Sylwan feature irregular-shaped gems which look like jellied candies that have temporarily been removed from someone’s mouth. Sylvan calls the jewelry collection which will go on display starting on Saturday at the Nutida Svenskt Silver boutique “Guld och Godis,” which translates roughly (minus its lovely alliteration) as “Gold and Candy.” The artisan says that she feels like a kid in a candy shop when she visits a gem dealer. I personally like the broach pictured above called “Chewy Rat,” (Seg Råtta), which is the name of a popular type of artificially colored candy usually marketed here in bins.
The exhibit at Arsenalgatan 3 in Stockholm will continue until October 12.
Photo: Peter Mörk

What is fake and what is real?

Reaching out from the past: Gloves from the Sican Culture, (750-1375 e.Kr.)

There is so much fake around us. Fake reality shows. Fake boobs. Simulated excitement. Objects that are real with a material, spiritual or historical weight have a special resonance in the popular imagination. That must be why over 11,000 people have already pre-booked tickets to a Stockholm exhibit called “Inca- Gold Treasures in the Skeppsholmen Caverns.”
A total of 285 ancient artifacts have been assembled from fifteen leading museums in Peru. Ceremonial masks, nose-rings, textiles, sculptures and ceramics from the Incan Empire are on display in the underground chambers. Much of the collection is made of gold, with a unique decorative iconography which tells the story of a major civilization.
On Thursday morning I took a press tour of the exhibit. Wow! It isn’t everyday one can see gold and silver treasures from a highly developed South American culture which existed long before Columbus got lost and ended up in America
The exhibit opens September 10 and will continue until February 12, 2012.

An archaelogist of weirdness

If you are looking for a copy of a film called “Meet the Hollowheads” or a vinyl recording of psychedelic lounge music from Mongolia, Larry’s Corner is the place for you.

Owner/manager Larry Farber, an expatriate Yank, has spent decades digging around in the cellars and dusty attics of the civilized world in order to discover the most quirky and funky books and music he can find. This Indiana Jones of weirdness appreciates his merchandise so much that if he has come to love a certain CD or book too much, he may suddenly decide he doesn’t want to part with it after all. In other words, Larry isn’t a very zealous capitalist.

Larry’s Corner is located on the corner of Grindgatan and Blekingegatan. The owner brags that he serves the “the best mediocre coffee in all of Stockholm.” How can one resist a deal like that?

Knitting up a macabre vision

Finnish textile artist and designer Suvi Suikki combines pen-and-ink drawings made on hand-made paper with knitted fabrics, extending the possibilities of both media. She seems to operate in a grey zone between good and evil, the delicate and the grotesque.
That is the description, at any rate, contained in an invitation I got today to an exhibit of Suvi’s work which will be shown August 30-September 28 at the Finland Institute in Stockholm, located at Snickarbacken 4 in Stockholm (just a hop, skip and a jump from Stureplan).
Looks like cool stuff to me.

Politically correct Gay film gets high marks

It sometimes pisses me off how critics in this country collectively lose their minds when a book, movie or other cultural expression suits the politically correct mood of the moment. A new Swedish feature film about lesbian love called “Kyss Mig” (Kiss Me) fits snugly in this category.

If this were a heterosexual love story about a man and a woman, instead of a film about two women who fall in love, it would have been universally panned as

IvanaHelskinki brings Indian Summer to NYC

Looking at my window at a grey sky punctuated by a boring drizzle, I wish that an Indian Summer with above-normal warm temperatures would arrive in Stockholm. IvanaHelsinki, the stylish Finnish label, founded by the Suhonen sisters, will in any event be bringing a collection called “Indian Summer” to the Big Apple on September 9, during the New York Fashion Week. The spring/summer 2012 collection features a “Scandinavian version of western romantics, feathers, endless hot summer days, hippy girls and freedom dreams.”
Designer Paola Suhonen has created two original prints for the collection: one based upon feathers and the second on dreamcatchers.

Moods of Norway does women

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A Norwegian fashion newsletter which popped up in my in-box today brought me some interesting news. Moods of Norway, that unpretentious crew who has a thing for waffle irons and tractors, is now also making outfits for women. The images above are drawn from the company’s “Cocktail Farming” collection.

Rest your tired bones in a graveyard

Caroline and Gustav

Richard and Mikaela

Betty and Anna

The capital of Sweden is a great place to walk but there aren’t many benches where one can simply sit and relax for a while. One place to cool your heels near the center of the city is at the Church of Adolf Fredriks, at the corner of Kammarkagatan and the big thoroughfare Sveavägen. There are numerous empty benches in the quiet, well-tended graveyard which surrounds the church.

Stockholm Fashion Week, Wednesday

Veronica Fratrielli

We chatted with Veronica Fratrielli while waiting for the Carin Wester show to start on Wednesday evening, during the Stockholm Fashion Week. She was wearing a colorful coat by Desigual, a Spanish label, together with vintage shoes and jewellery.

Origninally from Poland but currently living in Oslo, Veronica (who has a cool blog!) at http://www.veronicafratielli.blgspot.com will soon be shifting to Sweden to study fashion at the University of Stockholm.
Photo: Sara B