here is an article abput him also
Samu-Jussi Koski
Samu-Jussi Koski, who graduated as a fashion designer from the Lahti Institute of Design, designed his first Marimekko collection for the spring of 2005. He had previously worked at Marimekko as an assistant to the fashion designer Ritva Falla.
Samu-Jussi Koski, how did you become a fashion designer?
I always wanted to be as bohemian as the lady next door, who was fashion designer. After high school, I also planned studying photography, but I did not finish my entrance submissions in time. But I managed to finish the submissions for fashion design, I was accepted and I was drawn into the field.
How would you describe your design process?
When I designed my first collections, I proceeded from the printed patterns. The collections were built around the prints that “moved” me; in some of the garments I used printed patterns, while in others I didn’t. I find ideas in the people around me, old photographs, jazz, cigarette smoke and the throb of metropolises. The beginning of the process entails anxiety and uncertainty, and then the idea crystallises. A major role in the success of designing is played by the pattern maker, in this case Tarja Anttila. She really knows how to make a beautiful cut and how a garment is made to fit.
How would you describe your own style as a designer?
Simple, classic, feminine and slightly flirtatious.
Which fashion designer do you admire the most?
Balenciaga is the all-time great.
Generally speaking, what is the most important quality that a fashion designer should have?
The ability to withstand stress.
What kind of materials do you prefer to work with?
Natural materials.
Who would you like to see wearing clothes designed by you? I’m always happy to see garments designed by me in use, by anyone. It’s nice to think that for users my clothes are a way of adorning themselves.
What’s it like to design at Marimekko?
A challenge.
What is the Marimekko girl of the 2000s like?
I think the Marimekko girl of today has the same qualities as she already had in the 1960s. Back then women wearing Marimekko fashions were described in the press as follows: “The Marimekko girl understands modern design, poetry, abstract art and progressive jazz.” (Morgonbladet, 3 March 1965) She is ”a contemporary example of the Kalevala woman of Finnish folklore: independent, proud and highly aware of her value as a woman.” (Norsk Dameblad, 7 December 1960) Or as the Finnish women’s magazine Anna described her in 1965: ”A sophisticated young woman, sexy, self-assured, with an interesting face, but not beautiful as such – a well-groomed, ageless woman who enjoys life and is surrounded by an atmosphere of vitality, a woman who refuses to be bored."
What is the best thing about your work?
The best thing about it is to see people get excited about the clothes that I design and to see the mark of my own hand in the street.
Briefly describe your disposition?
I’m flexible, easily bored and absent-minded. I am excited by travel, the company of intelligent people, and nature. I dream of a better world, one that is safe, tolerant, unpolluted and beautiful.
[marimekko.fi]
i'm still sick of it
