The story of Memo & Memore

For me the interplay of the material, color, structure and pattern is always an inspiring affair. I work with my own contract collection of interior design fabrics, and along with the fabrics I´ve had the joy of taking part in numerous interior design projects.  Building space and its atmosphere with textiles.

So, textile or fabric itself seldom is the final target of my work. The importance is on the impact and performance. Entities spring to life in interaction, by collaboration. But textile is the basis for my work. Or actually everything begins with the design: with the rhythm and sequence of motifs. With the regularity that keeps patterns next to one another, with the arrangement that turns small items into large surfaces.

For me it is typical to work with projects, with a theme or a topic. The designs are often created as a result of process with several phases. That was also the case with the collection novelties MEMO and MEMORE.

MEMO

The patterns of MEMO refer to binary code; stylized zeros and lines display variably depending on the thread and colors used in weaving. Flickering, like the blade of grass unveiled by the melting snow. Or like a distinct note, which you can return to, time and again.

The design process began about a year ago, but must have in some subconscious way been on my mind for a while. As a textile designer I had paid attention to a trend of an increasing role of textiles in public premises. But beside one colored solutions, I lacked and wanted to offer something more: lively textures and feeling of the material, delight for eye and hand.

My design processes begin either as conscious work with the theme, or by chasing a realization of a foggy vision. With Memo I walked the latter path. On October the vision of the rhythm was first drawn into a small piece of cardboard. It laid a while on the bedside table, and finally found its way to the office. In January the calendrer was open for the design work: seeking the composition, finishing the design and preparing it for the power loom. At this stage a bit flimsy basketweave kind of rhythm turned into more organized version. The scale of the pattern as well as the structure of the weave and the limits of the manufacturing process set demands for the design, and on the software grid the patterns started to look like numbers, or like a binary code.

Colors, and in woven fabric also the structure of the weave, have great impact on the appearance. And these are the factors, that make MEMO interesting and versatile. Colors modify the design: the individual motives come up or flicker and almost disappear. Unite into the texture and create associations.

Fabric is always part of something else, a product or a space. MEMO is is designed especially for work and office environments. The small-scale patterned texture of the fabric is perfectly suitable for acoustic products, space dividers as well as for lounge furniture and accessories.

MEMORE

The designs connection to binary code and notes continued with the print design process.

Despite the notes and memos, memory and remembering is an uncertain business. In memories, our experiences melt with the shared stories. Even though the facts are the same, we create individual interpretations.

While composing the print design I nursed the English word remember in my mind. Re member. In Finnish the word does not have the same kind of connotation to reorganizing, but that´s what I think remembering is.

Like memories, MEMORE is not solid. The same motives that create organized texture on woven version Memo, now melt, modify – and even disappear.

The journey from the shaky lines on the cardboard into the printed fabric took about six months. My aim was to find a versatile fabric quality to complete the collection, and I ended up dealing with emotional and significant themes. Even though these background thoughts are not visible in the final product, I think and hope the process and the considerations can be seen in the solid end result.