A Swedish Artist Known for Her Vibrant Florals and Seductive Line Drawings is a Perfect Match for Marimekko

Marimekko has long been a go-to for those seeking joyful bursts of color and pattern in their clothing and home décor, from the oft-searched 1980s-era Dan River Tulip bedding to the ever-stylish (and, frankly, ahead of its time) gender-neutral shirting of the 1953 Jokapoika. Over the last few years, the Finnish design brand has expanded that vision with its Marimekko Artist Series, a collaborative opportunity “to provide artists with a canvas — in the shape of Marimekko products — to present their work,” as Marimekko’s creative director Rebekka Bay puts it. The series makes artwork accessible to a broader public while paying homage to an era when Marimekko’s founder Armi Ratia would invite artists and other creatives to design prints, Bay adds. The theme of this year’s series, the Anatomy of a Flower, was a perfect fit for Petra Börner, a Swedish artist who lives in London. Börner’s work often nods to floral subjects and motifs, cyclical growth and constant transformation, and this beautifully translates into a capsule collection for the Finnish brand.

10.05.23

Travel

Beata Heuman Made Her Name Designing Colorfully Maximalist Interiors. Now She’s Bringing That Same Aesthetic to a Chic Parisian Hotel.

The Swedish-born, London-based designer Beata Heuman is known for bringing character and charm to her interiors. And she does just that with her first hotel project: Hôtel de la Boétie, which opened in September, the sixth Parisian space from design-forward French hotel group Touriste. For this collaboration, Heuman and her studio worked with the 19th-century architecture of the building — located in rue de la Boétie in the eighth arrondissement, not too far from the Champs-Élysées — and incorporated existing elements such as the marble entrance, elevator, and staircase of the 40-room property. Keeping the design relatively simple, using a limited palette, natural woods, and stainless steel and brass, Heuman has created the kind of heightened atmosphere you can have in spaces that are meant to be traveled through and not necessarily lived in all the time. “We can treat it a bit like a stage set, which is not the approach I would take when it comes to someone’s home,” says Heuman.

11.04.16

Excerpt: Book

An Introduction to Italy’s Favorite Anti-Minimalist

It is perhaps ironic that Paola Navone should release a book entitled Tham ma da, a Thai word meaning "ordinary." Tham ma da doesn't refer to Navone's design sense, however, nor is it an adjective to describe the interiors she creates. But it is a fitting description of how she can take a humble material and multiply it so that the effect is something much, much greater.