The history of Marimekko, the iconic Finnish textile company, is a fascinating one. Or at least I think so!
Marimekko fabric, along with their clothing, wallpaper and homewares is usually on any colour and pattern lovers style radar.
My spontaneous, unplanned “Fashion Friday” post last week featured the new Spring Marimekko clothing range. It was so joyously colourful, and uplifting I just had to share the pictures with you.
So today I decided to follow up with a short ‘Marimekko history’. I hope you find the story of their ups and downs as interesting as I do.
Marimekko history
Originally known as Printex, the company was founded in 1949 by husband and wife team Viljo and Armi Ratia.
Trained at the Ateneum School of Art in Helsinki, Armi was on a mission to manufacture textiles that were different to everything else available on the market. “One has to dream,” she said, “and one must stand out from the rest.”
And stand out they certainly did. Although the public, whilst loving the designs, were at a loss to know what to actually make from these bright, boldly patterned fabrics. So in 1951 the couple founded a new company, Marimekko, which means ‘”Mari’s dress”. Their aim? To promote Printex designs for use as fashion and interiors textiles.
Consequently, their first fashion show in the Spring of that year was a huge success; people bought the brightly coloured clothes almost off the models backs.
By this time, Armi had brought in the designer Maija Isola, who was responsible for creating some of the company’s most successful and iconic prints. Of these, the best known has to be Unikko, pictured above, which she designed in 1964. The story famously goes that this was in protest against Armi’s decree that there were to be no floral prints. (Ha!)
And, of course, Unikko is still immensely popular today. You may have seen it in – it’s now available in a wide range of colourways and on a wide range of products. Also worth noting is that many regard it as one of the best-known textile designs in the world. That’s some achievement, no?
Marimekko clothing
Marimekko clothing was designed to be simple and easy-fitting. In addition, the bright, modern colours of its prints echoed the changing lifestyles of the 50’s and 60’s. The old dress codes and formal social traditions were giving way to a more relaxed and casual lifestyle. Which made it the perfect time for Marimekko clothing to take off.
Around this time Marimekko’s designs were also gradually becoming known in the US. This was thanks to Ben Thompson, architect and founder of design store Design Research. With branches in Philadelphia, San Francisco and New York it was the first store to sell Marimekko fabric and clothes in the US.
However it was the image of Jackie Kennedy on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1960 that boosted the company’s popularity into the stratosphere. The picture shows her in one of the several Marimekko dresses that she’d bought in Cape Cod whilst on the campaign trail. You can only imagine what that did for sales of Marimekko clothing. (Image via Apartment Therapy).
The 1970’s brought continuing success with the famous Marimekko Tasaraita stripe designed by Rimal Annika. It was produced in a cotton knit and used for T-shirts and sweatshirts designed to be worn with jeans which were then still a relatively new fashion. The equal width of the stripes symbolized the equality between men and women.
The years following the death of Armi Ratia in 1979 saw financial problems for the company. But things looked up again in 1991 when Kirsti Paakenen, a former advertising executive, bought Marimekko. And under her leadership the brand went from strength to strength. It opened its first shop in 2007 and now has over 80 stores worldwide.
The legacy of Maija Isola, Marimekko’s first (and arguably most famous) designer lives on. In the 1980s her daughter Kristina began to work with her and together they designed nearly half of the current Marimekko collection of prints. Kristina continues to create new designs for the company and to produce her mother’s original designs in new colourways.
If you’d like to learn more about the evolution of this pioneering company and their distinctive designs, you can visit the Timeline on the Marimekko website.
Marimekko fabric by the metre
A wide selection of Marimekko fabric is sold by the metre at my go-to Scandionline emporium, the brilliant Scandinavian Design Centre. They stock classic Marimekko fabric designs including Unikko & Siirtolapuutarha. And of course, the new designs that Marimekko regularly bring out. Talk about heaven for colour and pattern lovers!
Here’s just a tiny taste of the joyful Marimekko fabric designs you’ll find there:
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