Vintage Marimekko trunk show this Summer at AP Shop.

First two photos from the 2009 Marimekko Exhibit at Design Research in Cambridge.

Color block.

So Modern.

Vuokko Nurmesniemi designed the classic unisex Jokapoika-shirt in 1956. The fabric design used for the shirt, Piccolo, was designed in 1953. The “Tasaraita” (even stripe) design was created by Annika Rimala in 1968.

Armi Ratia saw Marimekko not just as a company, but also as a philosophy. In her own words, the company “looked for solutions to people’s problems [and] represented the endless struggle of an individual’s soul and spirit” . Especially important in Marimekko’s philosophy was the idea of the “Mari girl” and its view of independent, intelligent women as Marimekko’s clients. As Armi told the magazine American Fabrics in 1963, she didn’t sell clothes, but a way of living; her products were designs, not fashions.

Marimekko started out in 1951, during the bare and gray post-war period. At that time new, cheerfully-colored clothes were welcomed. Seems so appropriate for today.