Marimekko

Marimekko home decor

Marimekko designs and produces a diverse range or products, but it all started with fabric prints. To this day Marimekko are still known for their high quality fabrics featuring bold and colourful printed patterns. Their range now also includes cushions, tableware and lots of other home decor products, and you will find them here at Nordic Nest!

Marimekko fabrics & textiles

The Marimekko range includes fabrics for every sewing project - whether you need new chair cushions or perhaps some colourful curtains. The Marimekko fabrics present the perfect opportunity to integrate beautiful colours and patterns into your home in whatever way you see fit.

Colourful Marimekko cushions

Marrimekko’s wide selection of cushion covers and pillowcases that make for beautiful decoration on your living room couch, or in your bed. Marimekko’s beautiful cushion covers clad in their bold and colourful patterns can help your bring life out of your interior. 

Marimekko kitchen & dining

Marimekko has a wide range of products for kitchen and dining. Their assortment includes everything from stoneware clad in beautiful prints, colourful aprons and beautiful glassware in intricate shapes. These products are great for making exciting table settings, or for creating a vibrant atmosphere in your kitchen and around your dinner table.

How does Marimekko work with sustainability?

For the people at Marimekko, sustainability means respecting the world we inhabit along with the people in it. Marimekko continuously work to make as much of their business as sustainable as possible.Keep reading to learn more about what Marimekko does for the sake sustainability.

Life cycle of products

Marimekko aims to create quality products with long lifespans. Their products are often found in second hand shops, or are passed on from one generation to the next, and this is a big part of their life cycle goal of their products. Every product is designed to pe used for as long as possible, and to be enjoyed by several users throughout its lifespan.

Sustainable materials

Marimekko is continuously working on implementing more and more sustainable materials in the production of their products. Most products produced by Marimekko  are made of cotton. In 2013 Marimekko became the first Finnish brand to join the international Better Cotton Initiative (BCI). An organization whose goal is to improve cotton production for workers and the environment.

What are Marimekko’s environmental goals?

For Marimekko It is important to treat nature with respect and to make production as environmentally conscious as possible. For this reason Marimekko has set these five environmental goals:

• Continuous reduction of energy consumption.
• Use of electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind and hydropower.
• 50% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
• Reduction of operational waste by 20%.
• Reduction of water consumption in relation to performance by 20%.

Where are Marimekko’s products made?

A whopping 70% of Marimekko’s fabric production is done in Europe, and the remaining 30% in Asia. Marimekko selects their suppliers and producers with care, and always make sure that production is fair and ethical.

In order to be sure of this, Marimekko maintains long term partnerships with suppliers and regularly examines their working conditions. This is done by both Marimekko employes as well as external auditors.

Marimekko’s design philosophy

Marimekko is one of the greatest success stories in Finnish design history. The label is famous for their colourful and bold patterns on fabrics, stoneware and cushions. Armi Ratia’s, the founder  of marimekko, had a vision of being able to be present in people's everyday lives through her products. The brand has achieved this goal without question as the cheerful stripes and flowers became an integral part of Finnish life.

How to take care of marimekko textiles:

• Avoid washing the textile too often as this can decrease the lifespan of the fabric. Try instead to remove stains by hand.
• Wool is a naturally dirt-repellent material, letting them air from time to time should often be sufficient. 
• Marimekko fabrics should not be ironed too often. You can instead hang your fabrics to dry immediately after wash in order to avoid wrinkles.
• Make sure to carefully follow washing instructions with each wash as recommendations can vary between different fabrics.

Marimekko’s design collaborations

Marimekko is world renowned for their designs and they have collaborated with some of the biggest names in fabric design, including Aino-Maija Metsola and Maija Louekari. Marimekko regularly successfully re-launches old pattern designs; a testament to the timelessness of their designs.

Marimekkos most famous pattern

One of Marimekko’s most popular patterns is the classic Unikko pattern by Maija Isola. The large-scale floral pattern has become a signature pattern for Marimekko, but the road here wasn’t easy.

The Unikko pattern was designed in 1964 in protest to Armi Ratia’s ban on floral patterns from Marimekko products. However, Maija Isola’s Unikko pattern managed to convince the founder to change her mind, and we’re lucky she did! Unikko is to this day one of Marimekko’s most iconic patterns.

The history of Marimekko

Since day one, Marimekko has steadily established a collection of iconic bold patterns that are used to adorn various types of products. Marimekko was founded in 1951 by Armi Ratia, specializing solely on the production of qualitative hand-printed fabrics. In fact, until 1973 all of Marimekko’s fabrics were printed by hand. 

Marimekko still produces around one million meters of fabric per year, but has complemented the fabric collections with a great deal of stunning home interior. Today Marimekko produces fabrics, clothes and well as home interior.