Tuesday, October 10, 2006

marimekko in cambridge


photo: : Globe Staff photo/Michele McDonald www.boston.com

: : oh, the excitement!! everyone knows I am a color freak, and what company has more bold, bright colors than marimekko? well, my friend .gisela. sent me a link to an article in the Boston Globe [Oct 5th] announcing that marimekko's very first retail store in the US has opened in Cambridge!! of all places!! so exciting! anyone want to meet me there this weekend?

here's a piece of the Boston Globe article

"It makes perfect sense that the country's first Marimekko major "concept" store, which opened last week, would be in Cambridge. "We think of Cambridge as the birthplace of Marimekko in the US," says Yossie Bitton, managing director of Marimekko North America.

Local design afficionados of a certain age associate Marimekko -- the Finnish textile and clothing company -- with Harvard Square of the '60s and '70s. It was Cambridge architect Benjamin Thompson who first brought Marimekko products to the United States in 1959, selling them in his legendary home furnishings store, Design Research, on Brattle Street. (It now houses Crate & Barrel.)

Known for their vivid, uninhibited colors and exuberant patterns, ``nothing like it had been seen in America," Thompson wrote in 1985. ``It matched the mood of the times . . . Marimekko was freedom of movement -- women in an equal rights world, breaking out into a new life."

find the store at 350 Huron Ave., Cambridge. 617-354-2800.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kul! Man blir alltid glad och stolt när det går bra för skandinavisk (och framförallt svensk)design i USA.

volvomom said...

I have been a fan of Marimekko since I was an exchange student to Finland in 1985. Since then, I've been getting my Marimekko fix from my Finnish family in Tuusula, and from the NYC store! I am so excited to have one near home now! Yea!

Many thanks for the pictures in your blog! I am visiting the store TODAY! Yea!