This collection covers the period that Ratia was with Marimekko, 1951-1979.It includes scrapbook, press releases, correspondence, brochures, photographs, magazine articles, swatches, and trade catalogs. It contains extensive information about the company's affiliation with D/R and its operations in Finland. It includes a copy of "Phenomenon Marimekko," the catalog from a comprehensive exhibition that was held at the Museum of Applied Arts in Helsinki in 1986. The collection contains legal correspondence and contracts pertaining to D/R's representation of Marimekko in the United States, as well as numerous swatches, sample books, brochures for stockholders, and trade catalogs. Files pertaining to Marimekko's work in Finland is mostly in Finnish and consists of brochures, posters, articles, and sample books, as well as a copy of the publication, "Design in Finland 1983."Additional information on Marimekko's association with D/R can be found in the Cooper-Hewitt Design Archive's Design Research, Inc. Collection.
Arrangement note:
Unprocessed. This collection consists of six record groups: 1) Company history and background information; 2) Marimekko/Design Research, Inc. Correspondence; 3) Marimekko Finland; 4) Scrapbooks and press clippings; 5) Swatches and samples; and 6) Photographs.
Biographical/Historical note:
Finnish fabric manufacturer and retail chain. The company's chief designer was Armi Ratia (1912-1979), who was known for her use of vibrant colors and large patterns. She first joined her husband's design firm, Printex, in 1949. In 1951, the company was renamed Marimekko, which means "a little dress for Mary" in Finnish. During the 1960s and '70s, the firm manufactured cotton, jersey, and wool fabrications, along with paper, laminated plastics, and table coverings. Ratia was known for designing free, easy fashions in bold painterly designs taking much of her inspiration from nature and handicraft.
Ben Thompson, the founder of the retail establishment Design Reseaach, Inc. (D/R), discovered Ratia's designs at the Finnish Pavilion of the Brussels World Fair in 1957, and persuaded her to come to the United States. D/R became the exclusive representative of Marimekko products in the U.S. Today, through franchises worldwide, Marimekko stores sell simple clothing for women and children, as well as household accessories and furniture.
Location of Other Archival Materials Note:
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Textiles Department. 28 printed textiles designed by or for Marimekko.
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Wallcoverings Department. One samplebook.
Marimekko Homepage. Additional information on the history of the company and its activities today can be found on Marimekko's homepage: http://www.marimekko.fi/.
Provenance:
The materials in this collection were donated to Cooper-Hewitt in 1975 by Benjamin and Jane Thompson.
This accession consists of records documenting the activities of the Renwick Gallery during the tenures of Lloyd E. Herman, Director, 1971-1986; Michael W. Monroe,
Curator-in-Charge, 1986-1995; and Kenneth R. Trapp, Curator-in-Charge, 1995-2003. Topics covered include art organizations; craft fairs and craft schools; correspondence with
museums within and outside of the United States and with artists; the museum shop; exhibitions; repair and renovation of the Renwick Gallery building; special events; and
lectures.
Exhibitions documented include: The Object As Poet; Craft Multiples; Americas: The Decorative Arts in Latin America in the Era of the Revolution; Costumes
from Arab World; The Decorative Designs of Frank Lloyd Wright; Design Is. . .; The Grand Renwick Souvenir Show; Ryijy Rugs from Finland: 200 Years
of a Textile Art; Irena Brynner: Jewelry Since 1950; A Feast of Color: Corpus Christi Dance Costumes from Ecuador; Grass; Arne Jacobsen: Danish
Architect and Designer; An Interior Decorated: Joyce Kozloff; The Designs of Raymond Loewy; Glass by Dale Chihuly: The Cylinder and Basket Series;
Signs of Life: Symbols in the American City; Ronald Pearson: Silver and Gold; Bo'Jou Neefee! Profiles of Canadian Indian Art; French Folk Art;
Figure and Fantasy; A Modern Consciousness: D. J. DePree and Florence Knoll; New Stained Glass; Belgian Lace; Man Made Mobile: The Western Saddle;
Contemporary Textile Art from Austria; The New Fabric Surface: Printed, Painted, and Dyed; 200 Years of Royal Copenhagen Porcelain; Boxes and Bowls:
Decorated Containers by the 19th Century Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian Indian Artists; Contemporary Nigerian Art: Craftsmen from Oshogbo; Painted Weavings by
Lia Cook and Neda Alhilali; Twills With Titles: H. Theodore Hallman, Weaver Kenneth G. Mills, Poet; Skoogfors, 20th Century Goldsmith; The Woven and Graphic
Art of Anni Albers; Material Evidence: New Color Techniques in Handmade Furniture; Masterworks of Louis Comfort Tiffany; Bound to Vary: Billy Budd, Sailor;
The Boat Show: Fantastic Vessels, Fictional Voyages; Treasures from the Land, Twelve New Zealand Craftsmen and their Native Materials; Harvey K. Littleton
Retrospective Exhibition; Celebration: A World of Art and Ritual; Dan Dailey: Glass, 1972-1987; Material Evidence: New Color Techniques in Handmade Furniture;
Lost and Found Traditions: Native American Art 1965-1985; Clay Revisions: Plate, Cup, Vase; American Art Pottery; Stephen de Staebler: The Figure;
The Goldsmith; Chicago Furniture; The Tibetan Yak in Art and Craft; Contemporary Australian Ceramics; Edward Colonna; Scandinavian Modern
1880-1980; The Animal Image: Contemporary Objects and the Beast; William Harper: Recent Works in Enamel; Georg Jensen, Silversmithy: 77 Artists, 75 Years;
The Harmonious Craft: American Musical Instruments; Cynthia Schira: New Work; Lafayette Square, 1963-1983: Architecture, Preservation, and the Presidency;
Quilts from the Indiana Amish; Russia: The Land, The People, 1840-1910; Frank Lloyd Wright and the Johnson Wax Building: Creating a Corporate Cathedral;
Fanfare: Fans from the 18th Century - 20th Century, Parts I, II, III; Architecture in Silver; The Art of Turned Wood Bowls; The Flexible Medium: Art
Fabric from the Museum's Collection; Threads: Seven American Artists and Their Miniature Textile Pictures; Paint on Wood: Decorated American Furniture Since
the 17th Century; Venini Glass; American Art Deco; New Glass; American Porcelain: New Expressions in an Ancient Art; Good as Gold: Alternative
Materials in American Jewelry; Newcomb Pottery; Clay for Walls; Russel Wright: American Designer; and A Century of Ceramics in the U.S., 1878-1978.
Some of these materials date from the time when the Smithsonian American Art Museum was known as the National Collection of Fine Arts and the National Museum of American
Art. Materials include correspondence, memoranda, trip reports, brochures, staff meeting notes, artists' surveys, images, exhibition catalogs, checklists, postcards, invitations,
brochures, exhibition labels, research materials, architectural drawings, floor plans, and clippings.
Ben af Schultén ja Artekin traditio = Ben af Schultén and the Artek tradition / [tekstin on toimittanut Kaarina Mikonranta ; toimittaja: Ulla Kinnunen ; käännös: Nicholas Mayow]
