Marimekko

Marimekko Corporation
	Logo since 1954
	Head office
Native name	Marimekko Oyj
Company type	Public (Julkinen osakeyhtiö)
Traded as	Nasdaq Helsinki: MEKKO; LSE: 0JX9; OTC Pink Limited: MKKOF;
ISIN	FI0009007660
Industry	Textiles; Clothing; Home furnishings; Retail
Founded	25 May 1951; 73 years ago in Helsinki, Finland
Founders	Viljo Ratia; Armi Ratia; Riitta Immonen
Headquarters	Helsinki, Finland
Number of locations	153 stores (2022)
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko [fi] (CEO); Mika Ihamuotila [fi] (Chairman); Maija Isola (Designer); Vuokko Nurmesniemi (Designer)
Revenue	€166.5 million (2022)
Operating income	€30.4 million (2022)
Net income	€22.7 million (2022)
Number of employees	459 (31 December 2022)
Website	marimekko.com

Marimekko Corporation (Finnish: Marimekko Oyj)^[4]^[5] is a Finnish textiles, clothing, and home furnishings company founded by Viljo and Armi Ratia in Helsinki in 1951. Marimekko made important contributions to fashion in the 1960s. It is particularly noted for its brightly colored printed fabrics and simple styles, used both in women's garments and in home furnishings.

Two designers in particular, Vuokko Nurmesniemi, with bold stripes, and Maija Isola, with large simple flowered prints such as the Unikko poppy, created hundreds of distinctive patterns and helped to make Marimekko a household name across the world.

Etymology

The co-founder, Armi Ratia, first considered Armi as the company's name, but it was already registered. Her middle name was Maria, shortened to Mari; her husband Viljo thought of different names for women's clothing. In her home town of Koivisto, Armi heard people talking about dresses (Finnish: mekko), and so she came to the name Marimekko.^[6]

History

Foundation

Finnish entrepreneur Armi Ratia (1912–1979), co-founder of Marimekko.

Marimekko was founded in 1951 by Viljo and Armi Ratia, after the Viljo's oil-cloth factory project failed and was converted to a garment plant. Armi asked some artist friends to apply their graphic designs to textiles. To show how the fabric could be used, the company then designed and sold a line of simple dresses using their fabric. When Finland's leading industrial designer Timo Sarpaneva invited the company to present a fashion show (albeit canceled at short notice) at the 1957 Triennale in Milan, it was an early recognition of fashion as an industrial art and of Marimekko's key role in shaping it to that point. The garments were eventually showcased in the nearby Rinascente upscale department store by display manager Giorgio Armani.^[7]

Pioneering design

Two pioneering designers set the tone for Marimekko: Vuokko Nurmesniemi in the 1950s and Maija Isola in the 1960s.^[8]^[9] Nurmesniemi designed the simply striped red and white Jokapoika shirt in 1956. Isola designed the iconic Unikko (poppy) print pattern in 1964.^[10] Marimekko's bold fabrics and bright, simple design strongly influenced late 20th-century taste.^[11] Many of the early Marimekko designs, including Isola's Unikko, remain in production in the 2010s.^[12]

Commercial growth

Marimekko spread to America in the 1960s.^[13] It was introduced to the United States by the architect Benjamin C. Thompson, who featured them in his Design Research stores. They were made famous in the United States by future first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who bought eight Marimekko dresses which she wore throughout the 1960 United States presidential campaign.^[14]

By 1965, the company employed over 400 staff, and the company was in every aspect of fine design, from fabrics to toys and dinnerware. The firm even completely equipped small houses with furnishings. In 1985, the company was sold to Amer-yhtymä. In the early 1990s, Marimekko was in a bad financial condition and close to bankruptcy. It was bought from Amer by Kirsti Paakkanen, who introduced new business methods in the company and helped to revive its popularity.^[14]

Later in the 1990s Marimekko achieved publicity in the hit TV series Sex and the City. The fictional main character of the series, sex-and-relationship columnist Carrie Bradshaw, wore a Marimekko bikini on season 2 and then a Marimekko dress. In season 5 the series introduced tablecloths with Marimekko prints.^[14]

In 2005, Marimekko's revenue had quadrupled since Paakkanen's purchase, and its net income had grown 200-fold. Paakkanen remained CEO of Marimekko and owned 20% of the company via her business Workidea. In 2007, Paakkanen announced she would gradually hand over her ownership to Mika Ihamuotila as CEO and biggest owner of the company. By 2011 there were 84 stores across the world.^[14]

Marimekko products are made in China, India, Thailand, Portugal, Lithuania and other countries. Fabrics are printed in Marimekko's textile factory in Helsinki, but are not made in Finland.^[15] The company celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2021 by publishing the book Marimekko: The Art of Printmaking.^[16]

Logo

The logo of Marimekko has been in use since 1954. Armi Ratia wanted the logo to be simple and timeless. Graphic designer Helge Mether-Borgström used modified versions of classic Olivetti typewriter letters to create the logo.^[17]^[10]

Reception

Cindy Babski wrote in the New York Times that "There was never any doubt about what the inside label would say. The clothes and fabrics, with their striking design and splashes of bold color, were clearly Marimekko. But for people of a certain generation—those who came of age in the 1960s—they represented more than just a brand name: They conjured up an image and an era."^[18]

In 2007, Heidi Avellan wrote in the Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan that Marimekko was no longer a "statement, just as T-shirts with revolutionary Che Guevara or Palestinian scarves rarely express any political awareness. Marimekko is paper napkins and rubber boots". She wrote that Marimekko "began with the colourfully striped shirt, Jokapoika which Vuokko Nurmesniemi designed in 1956", which became the symbol for new radicalism in academia.^[19]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Financial Statements Bulletin 2022". Marimekko. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
^ "Sales and stores". Marimekko. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Marimekko's year 2022" (PDF). Marimekko. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
^ "Marimekko Oyj". Business Information System. Helsinki: Finnish Patent and Registration Office, Finnish Tax Administration. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
^ "Marimekko corporation's articles of association". Marimekko Corporation. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
^ Larros, Heini (1 February 2008). "Marimekko Story". City (in Finnish). Retrieved 10 October 2019.
^ Kaj Kalin; Timo Sarpaneva; Marjatta Svennevig (1986). Sarpaneva. Helsinki: Otava. ISBN 951-1-07887-9.
^ Isola 2005.
^ Fogg 2008.
^ ^a ^b "About Marimekko: History". Marimekko. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
^ Jackson 2007.
^ Sisson, Patrick (10 April 2017). "Marimekko's pattern of progressive design". Curbed. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
^ Lange, Alexandra (23 June 2017). "Jane Jacobs, Georgia O'Keeffe, and the Power of the Marimekko Dress". The New Yorker. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Qureshi, Huma (20 September 2011). "Marimekko's bid for world domination". The Guardian House and Home Blog.
^ "Printed in Helsinki". Marimekko. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
^ Borrelli-Persson 2021.
^ Aav 2003, p. 324.
^ Babski, Cindy (3 January 1988). "Marimekko Changes Its Spots". New York Times. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
^ Avellan, Heidi (6 August 2007). "Radikala ränder" [Radical stripes]. Sydsvenskan (in Swedish). Retrieved 5 October 2012.

Sources

Aav, Marianne (2003). Marimekko: Fabrics, Fashion, Architecture. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10183-6.
Borrelli-Persson, Laird (2021). Marimekko: The Art of Printmaking. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0-5000-2398-3.
Fogg, Marnie (2008). 1960s Fashion Print: A Sourcebook. Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-9054-1. (6 page-sized illustrations of Isola's prints) Google Books
Isola, Kristina (2005). Maija Isola: Life, Art, Marimekko. Design Museo. ISBN 978-952-9878-42-0.
Jackson, Lesley (2007). Twentieth Century Pattern Design. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 978-1-56898-712-5.