Chosen by design
She energetically calls herself a bold, fine lady. In fact there’s more of an intensive force about her than fineness. Her wildly flashing eyes focus when she talks about her calling to be a designer.
“I didn’t choose design, it was design that chose me,” says Mari Isopahkala, Lapponia’s Guest Designer for 2011. First prize in the 2010 Lapponia International Jewelry Competition winged her way to collaboration with Lapponia.
An exuberant Ostrobothnian
The first thing you recall about Mari Isopahkala is her laughter. It’s captivating and infectious, an expressive face lit up with joy. But she doesn’t laugh for nothing. She’s a strong Ostrobothnian, born on a farm surrounded by animals and everyday farmhouse life. Not exactly born into a design family, you might say. However, she has her childhood to thank for having become smitten by design.
“Ever since I was a kid I’ve done everything with my hands through experimentation and development. All the games were outside and everything was made by hand, inspired by the imagination. I also made my own clothes, parasols and all sorts of girly things,” laughs Isopahkala.
Path turned into a road
Mari Isopahkala first graduated as a furniture designer from Lahti Institute of Design. That should have been enough. However, a burning desire took her further – the path turned into a road when she was given the chance to study at the University of Art and Design Helsinki. The university and its inspiring teachers opened Isopahkala’s eyes and kindled the young designer’s passion for creative work.
“I was allowed to work freely, with no constraints, to do whatever I wanted to. At the same time, I realized that pigeonholing has never been my style. I’ve not designed many pieces of furniture since university,” Isopahkala smiles.
Work is rewarding
The young designer is thrilled about the year of her life as she puts it.
“I’ve had many phone calls and work is piling up. Isopahkala has indeed been faithful to her own style, at times even stubbornly so. In a world of mass production, the artist considers it refreshing that more and more people also value individual design. And the work must be so good that it sells itself. Top quality, innovative design sells even without articulate statements.
Determination is one of Isopahkala’s principles.
“There’s no such thing that can’t be done. If I can’t do it myself, I find someone who can and who can also teach me at the same time. I study the material and respect it to learn everything possible about it. When listening to Isopahkala, the image of a boundary breaker arises, a design artist pushing into the discomfort zone, an artist who wants constantly to learn new things and to evolve into a sublime expert.
“There must always be a reason for design. For me, it’s not just the functionality and necessity of the product designed, but also aesthetic character and beauty are things that are the reason for my work and constrain it. I think a practical, functional product can also be beautiful, which is why, as a designer, I love designing jewelry and glass among other things.” Somewhat surprisingly, Isopahkala reveals that she doesn’t follow trends or the work of other designers. She doesn’t want them to influence her own work, but to design according to what her heart says. She thinks people get far too many external impulses these days. Isopahkala sticks to her basic tenets of functionality, aesthetics, ethicality and sustainable development.
She naturally admits that creativity is painful at times. It seems that it, too, belongs to the pure Ostrobothnian character, no work is allowed to move ahead until the designer herself is completely satisfied with it.
“I would be lying if I said that I don’t design myself. That’s where it all starts. But it also includes responsibility – you can start off with design, but it needs to be refined so that it belongs to everyone. I keep my nose to the grindstone and sometimes even painfully so, but then when a work is finished, the joy of success is overwhelming.
Under the spell of glass
Despite her young age, Mari Isopahkala is an exceptionally versatile, successful and award-winning artist and designer. In addition to her exhibitions, she has reaped renown as a designer of objects and is especially acclaimed for her glasswork. According to the designer, glass is one of the world’s most beautiful, yet also most difficult materials. Whilst delighted about it, she also curses the fact that she fell for such a material.
“Some people spend their entire life studying glass design without necessarily ever learning it. Besides glass, Isopahkala has designed rugs, lighting, cutlery, jewelry and various textiles. One of her rugs, designed with the Paspas partnership, can be found in New York’s ABC Carpet collection.
Leap into the revolutionary world of jewelry
Mari Isopahkala Guest Designer collection Winter Pearl was launched in October. She is enthusiastic about her collaboration with Lapponia.
“I remember I was ten years’ old when I first saw Lapponia jewelry. Since then, it has remained part of my visual “jewelryscape”. Lapponia jewelry fuses artistic vision and technical skill. Rendering personal experiences into a wearable object has always interested me. To me, Lapponia represents quality and beauty that stand the test of time. The first Lapponia jewelry I saw twenty years ago still makes me stop and look again.” Last year, Isopahkala won “The Next Episode”, an international jewelry competition held by Lapponia which attracted more than 240 entries from almost 30 different countries.
I guess that Lapponia is also pleased about collaborating with this talented, young designer. According to Lapponia’s managing director Laura Lares, the Guest Designer approach is especially well-suited to Lapponia.
“Last year saw us celebrate Lapponia’s 50th anniversary. Lapponia is best revered by looking ahead and by presenting to the public not only internationally acclaimed Lapponia artists, but also interesting, upcoming jewelry designers."
This, if anything, applies to Mari Isopahkala, doesn’t it?