cover image Marimekko: Fabrics, Fashion, Architecture

Marimekko: Fabrics, Fashion, Architecture

. Yale University Press, $70 (336pp) ISBN 978-0-300-10183-6

The Finnish design house Marimekko has been producing fashion and lifestyle accessories since 1951, and its fresh, high-spirited motifs have influenced designers around the world. This vivid, eye-opening book showcases the firm's history, designers and textile patterns, and examines both Marimekko's international reception and the reasons for its corporate success. Design historian Aav, who directs the Finnish Museum of Art and Design in Helsinki, credits Marimekko's success to visionary leadership and a corporate philosophy based on individual creativity and the connection between design and everyday life. Cheeky and brightly colored, Marimekko designs have been embraced by such paragons of simple design as Crate & Barrel and Terence Conran's popular furniture shop Habitat, and have landed on the covers of fashion magazines worldwide. Aav's selection of essays written by journalists, design historians, architects and professors, along with her selection of full-color photos of various patterns and designs, make this a comprehensive, enlightening study of an important design firm.